Surveys

ECONOMIC WEEK AHEAD: May 12 - 16

May 11, 2025 4 min read

The coming week is jampacked with several April economic indicators and a couple of May regional business surveys. On balance, they should show that the soft data turned even softer mostly in response to Trump's Tariff Turmoil. The hard data are likely to be mixed, though consumer-related indicators should show resilience. The week's headline inflation indicators may be subdued by stable energy prices, while the core

Ed Yardeni

More Bad News Caused By Trump Turmoil 2.0

Apr 3, 2025 3 min read paid

Trump Tariff Turmoil 2.0 has caused a stock market selloff that is in full swing. The Nasdaq fell around 5% and the S&P 500 nearly 4% in the first hour of trading. The 10-year Treasury yield sank 16bps to 4.03% as recession fears outweigh inflation fears. Yesterday's Liberation Day festivities in the Rose Garden set off a freefall in stock prices on increasing fears

Ed Yardeni

From Election Uncertainty To Policy Uncertainty

Nov 12, 2024 3 min read paid

The NFIB survey of small business owners was released today showing a record high in their uncertainty index during October (chart). That's not surprising since the polls showed that the presidential race was too close to call, raising the prospect of a contested election. The same happened prior to the previous two elections. The uncertainty index will undoubtedly fall when November's survey is released. However, it

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

China Is The Source Of The Deflation Trade

Sep 10, 2024 2 min read paid

Forget about a recession in the US. Currently, it is China's recession/depression that is weighing on oil prices, global bond yields, and the dollar. Weak Chinese demand for oil caused OPEC today to trim the outlook for global oil demand, further depressing oil prices. Brent crude oil prices fell below $70 a barrel on Tuesday to their cheapest since December 2021 (chart). Declining oil prices dragged the

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Banking on Looser Regulation

Jul 9, 2024 3 min read paid

Bank stocks popped today after Reuters reported that the Fed is considering relaxing a regulation, i.e., the GSIB Surcharge. It requires big banks to hold additional capital due to the systemic risk they pose to the global financial system. Tweaking the GSIB surcharge would free up big banks to lend more. The S&P 500 Financials stock price index had already been doing well. It is up 37.

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

The Economic Week Ahead: June 3-7

Jun 2, 2024 2 min read paid

This week, May's employment report (Fri) is likely to be the most important one. We expect the labor market cooled a bit last month, tempering wage growth but not signaling a looming employment-led recession. Less profit margin pressure from wage inflation should boost company earnings, while the solid jobs market should continue to fuel consumer spending. If so, that's bullish for stocks. Here’s what we’

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

US Purchasing Managers Report Weakening Economy

May 6, 2024 2 min read paid

Among last week’s batch of weaker-than-expected economic indicators were April’s M-PMI and NM-PMI compiled by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). Both fell below 50.0 during April, with the former at 49.2 and the latter 49.4 (chart). Here’s more:

Ed Yardeni

Lackluster Fed Regional Business Surveys

Apr 29, 2024 2 min read paid

We now have the regional business surveys conducted by five of the Federal Reserve district banks. The average of their general business conditions indexes closely tracks the national manufacturing purchasing managers index (M-PMI), which rose slightly above 50.0 during March following 16 consecutive monthly readings below this level (chart). The regional average index was still negative in April. So it has yet to confirm that the rolling recession in

Ed Yardeni

Monetary Policy Is In A 'Good Place'

Apr 18, 2024 2 min read paid

Ed Yardeni

'Knock On Wood'

Apr 3, 2024 2 min read

Fed Chair Jerome Powell spoke at Stanford University today about the economy and monetary policy. He said, "I think we've gotten to what is, knock on wood, a pretty good place." He added, "We're using our tools to try to bring inflation down the rest of the way to 2%, while all the while keeping the economy strong as well." Today'

Ed Yardeni

The Economic Week Ahead: April 1 - 5

Mar 31, 2024 2 min read paid

The first week of the month is always jampacked with economic indicators. In addition, at least one member of the Federal Open Mouth Committee will be speaking every day. The economic indicators should confirm that the economy remains resilient in the face of pockets of weakness (a.k.a., rolling recessions). For starters, we'll see if the ISM's March M-PMI (Mon) confirms the weakness in the

Ed Yardeni

The Economic Week Ahead: March 18 - 22

Mar 17, 2024 2 min read

Other than Nvidia's AI lovefest during the first three days of the week and the FOMC meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, it's a quiet week for economic indicators. It will be interesting to see if the Philly Fed's regional business survey (Thu) for March confirms the weakness in last week's similar survey released by the NY Fed (chart). Both of these regional

Ed Yardeni

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