Economic Commentary

ECONOMY AND POLICY April 09, 2020 Chief Economist Scott Brown discusses the latest market data. Initial claims for unemployment benefits totaled 6.61 million in the week ending April 4, down from 6.87 million in the week before. Prior to seasonal adjustment, 15.1 million people have filed claims in the past three weeks – that’s 9.2% […]

ECONOMY AND POLICY April 03, 2020 Chief Economist Scott Brown discusses current economic conditions. There’s always a story behind the economic data. The Employment Report understated the labor market deterioration in March, while seasonal adjustment amplified the level of job losses in the first half of the month. More importantly, claims for unemployment benefits doubled […]

ECONOMY AND POLICY April 03, 2020 Chief Economist Scott Brown discusses the latest market data. Initial claims for unemployment benefits rose to 6.65 million in the week ending March 28, up from 3.31 million in the previous week (the previous record for one week had been 695,000, set in 1982). That’s nearly 10 million in […]

ECONOMY AND POLICY March 27, 2020 Chief Economist Scott Brown discusses current economic conditions. The economic impact of COVID-19 has been shockingly large and swift, but most of the information has been anecdotal. Economic data reports are by their nature backward-looking. However, the latest unemployment claim figure and the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index […]