Archive

DEEP DIVE: Tarrifying Semiconductors

Aug 11, 2025 5 min read paid

💡The following is an excerpt from our Morning Briefing dated August 7, 2025. Semiconductors initially were exempt from the tariffs President Donald Trump announced on imports from Taiwan and elsewhere, but their rarified status may be about to end. President Trump said on Tuesday that semiconductor-specific tariffs would be announced in the next week or so. Then, last night after the financial markets closed, the President floated the idea of

Jackie Doherty
Ed Yardeni

ECONOMIC WEEK AHEAD: August 11 - 15

Aug 10, 2025 3 min read

This is a week loaded with economic data releases that have the potential to shed light on the health of the US economy and change minds at the Federal Reserve—none more so, perhaps, than inflation. While the CPI and PPI are always of interest, the July releases come in the aftermath of jobs data that increased the prospect of interest rate cuts. In this context, retail sales data for

Ed Yardeni

MARKET CALL: Is The Sky The Limit?

Aug 10, 2025 3 min read paid

The S&P 500 nearly matched its July 28 record high on Friday. The Nasdaq did rise to a record high. Once again, the Magnificent-7 stocks collectively are leading the pack. That's because these remarkable companies continue to deliver magnificent earnings, which are increasingly being driven higher by the demand for cloud computing as AI increasingly powers the Digital Revolution. The sky seems to be the limit

Ed Yardeni

Musical Chairs & Policies At The Fed

Aug 7, 2025 3 min read

President Donald Trump on Thursday nominated Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Stephen Miran to serve out the remaining term of Federal Reserve Governor Adriana Kugler. Trump said Miran will serve in the role until January 31, 2026, while he continues a search for a permanent replacement. The Senate will probably confirm his nomination quickly and before the September meeting of the FOMC. If so, then there could be at least

Ed Yardeni

Still Banking On A Resilient US Economy

Aug 6, 2025 3 min read paid

It's a light day for economic news. Stock prices are drifting higher today because the Q2 earnings reporting season is going well, with very few exceptions. Notwithstanding the weakness of the latest employment report and the two surveys of purchasing managers, in manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries, stock investors are still betting on the resilience of the economy since it is continuing to deliver solid earnings. We are betting

Ed Yardeni

WEEKLY WEBCAST: Relax, Folks: Jobs Report Was OK

Aug 6, 2025 1 min read paid

Yes, payroll employment rose less than expected in July, and, yes, revisions pegged it lower than initially thought during May and June. That doesn’t mean demand for labor has slacked off, as the extreme reactions of the financial markets suggested. The payroll weakness says more about the supply of labor than demand for it. Indeed, the two are in balance, which Fed Chief Powell even said last week. Other

Ed Yardeni

July's Purchasing Managers Surveys Are Mixed

Aug 5, 2025 2 min read

The stock and bond markets didn't respond much to the national survey of non-manufacturing purchasing managers this morning, even though it was on the weak side (chart). The overall NM-PMI, which the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) compiles, edged down to 50.1, just above the expansion/contraction line at 50.0. The production component was solid at 52.6. But the employment component fell to 46.4.

Ed Yardeni

To 'V' Or Not To 'V'? That Is The Question!

Aug 4, 2025 4 min read paid

In our April 7 Morning Briefing, we anticipated the bottom in this year's S&P 500 correction and a V-shaped rebound. The bottom occurred the very next day. The V-shaped recovery started the following day on April 9, when President Donald Trump postponed his Wednesday, April 2, Liberation Day tariffs. We wrote: "Trump's Liberation Day last Wednesday triggered Annihilation Days on Thursday and Friday,

Ed Yardeni

ECONOMIC WEEK AHEAD: August 4-8

Aug 3, 2025 3 min read

Compared to last week’s dramatic data surprises, this week’s offerings are decidedly of the slim-pickings variety. But boring, the days ahead will not be. While we’re still of the thinking that President Donald Trump won’t fire Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair’s fate could be written between the lines of any data series that undershoots expectations. Following Friday’s weaker-than-expected July employment report, Trump wasted

Ed Yardeni

MARKET CALL: Freaky Friday

Aug 3, 2025 4 min read

On Friday, President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on all of America's trading partners. Friday's employment report was shockingly weak. So the President fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) because, he said, she "RIGGED" the data. On Friday, Fed Governor Adriane Kugler resigned, allowing Trump to more quickly appoint someone who could replace Jerome Powell as Fed chair next May. On

Ed Yardeni

Tomorrow is August 1

Jul 31, 2025 2 min read paid

The April 2 Liberation Day reciprocal tariffs were postponed on April 9 to July 9 and again to August 1. The S&P 500's latest correction bottomed on April 8. The rebound to new record highs has been extraordinary. Today's selloff on mostly good news suggests that investors and traders might be starting to take profits before going on their August vacations. They might also

Ed Yardeni

The US Economy Is In The Cloud

Jul 30, 2025 3 min read

The Treasury's Quarterly Refunding Statement, released this morning, was a non-event. No unexpected policy shifts or drastic changes in issuance sizes were noted, so the announcement was largely as anticipated. The FOMC's decision in the afternoon to leave the federal funds rate (FFR) unchanged was widely expected, too. So was the fact that two Fed governors dissented from that decision for the first time since 1993.

Ed Yardeni