Biden and Powell vs Summers and Dudley...it's between policymakers who want to go full steam ahead with as much fiscal and monetary "stimulus" as possible and center-left economists who worry about the economic effects of over-stimulating the economy.
Resisting the Budget Blowout....The best bet now is that spending and taxes both go up, but not nearly as much as President Biden or the far-left has asked for. Hold onto your hats, it's going to be a wild ride.
The Sugar High Economy. Add it all up, and we get 7.0% annualized real GDP growth for the first quarter. That’s very high by historical standards, but the economy has much further to go to reach a full recovery.
Yes, Stocks Are Still Cheap...While the market won’t move in a straight line, and a correction is always possible, as the economy opens up, those sectors of the market that fell behind in the past year (because of shutdowns and limited global trade) will be a source of strength.
Housing prices have soared in the past year. Given these gains, some are wondering whether housing is back in a 2000s-type bubble. But a deep dive into the data suggests...
Jobs are Booming. On Good Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the March 2021 employment data, and payrolls increased a staggering 916,000 for the month, easily beating the consensus expected 660,000.
The federal budget deficit hit an all-time record high of $3.1 trillion last year...Bargaining on tax hikes has already started in Washington, at least behind the scenes. It's going to be a long process, but we can say with high conviction that taxes are going up.
You’ve got to hand it to the Federal Reserve. With the cleverness of a seasoned head coach – think Jim Boeheim leading Syracuse in the NCAA basketball tournament – they figured out how to accomplish a great deal while making it look like they didn’t have many tools at their disposal.
Mark Twain once said, "History doesn't repeat, but it often rhymes." Either way, this Fed has made it clear that it will remain easy through 2022. As are result, we remain bullish on the economy and stocks, but cautious on bonds as inflation picks up. We all need to wait until 2023 to see what history we rhyme.
Unfortunately, the Fed does not seem to understand this and thinks it can fix any problem with more money...COVID shutdowns are the problem, and opening up is the solution. Distributing the vaccine as fast as possible is the best stimulus.