DATA PREVIEW: 4Q GDP, IMF’S WEO, FOMC, DURABLE GOODS

WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The upcoming week is packed with economic data, including the fourth quarter GDP, as well as a Federal Open Market Committee policy update and Chair Jay Powell’s news conference, and an update to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook. The GDP report is Thursday. The various GDPNow estimates don’t agree, with the New […]

STATUS CHECK: ONE OUT OF MANY, THE RENEWED PROMISE OF INAUGURATION DAY

WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The following is Tuesday’s status check of developments in the U.S. that can influence economic, health and political outcomes. • Inauguration Day, and in an address tailored to the moment and maybe to the post-Trump era in the months ahead, Joe Biden kept his first day in office focused on the possibilities […]

STATUS CHECK COMMENTARY: WASHINGTON’S IDEOLOGICAL BATTLE AT INFLECTION POINT

–‘I Have a Dream’ or “I Have a Nightmare?’ WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The following is Monday’s status check of developments in the U.S. that can influence economic, health and political outcomes. •        Great battles seldom preserve the status quo and the one shaping up in Washington could greatly accelerate ideological change or usher in an […]

DATA PREVIEW: HOUSING WEEK AND HOPEFULLY NEW BEGINNINGS

–Domestic Terrorism, Mounting Virus Death Tolls, Deep Divisions Overwhelm Data WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The upcoming week’s events, an Inauguration Day in the armed camp “Green Zone” that is now D.C. amid threats of violence at statehouses across the country, overshadows what little economic data will be published. The week begins with a holiday, progresses to […]

FED’S POWELL: NOW NOT TIME TO TALK ABOUT EXIT; WON’T CONSIDER UNTIL GOALS REACHED

— Vows To Communicate Very Clearly To Markets To Avoid 2013-style ‘Taper Tantrum’ By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stressed Thursday that the Fed is far from “exiting” either its zero short-term interest rate stance or its aggressive asset purchase program and proclaimed that the Fed will clearly communicate its […]

STATUS CHECK COMMENTARY: THE WASHINGTON MINDSET GETS A MAKEOVER

WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The following is Thursday’s status check of developments in the U.S. that can influence economic, health and political outcomes. • The thousands of government affairs specialists paid by American business firms to be their eyes, ears and arm-wrestlers in Washington are in the midst of the major recalibration that happens when a […]

PRESIDENT TRUMP NOW FACES AN UNCERTAIN FATE AT A SENATE TRIAL

By Denny Gulino WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The second impeachment of President Donald Trump Wednesday has left open the future of his “stop the steal” movement entwined with the violent attack on the Capitol. The next step, a Senate trial, could clarify what happens next. The final vote was 232 to 197 with eight members not […]

FED’S BEIGE BK SEES MODEST EXPANSION AMID MIXED SIGNALS

WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The surge in COVID-19 cases and “stricter containment measures” have produced mixed results for consumer spending while manufacturing has continued to recover despite weaker auto sales, the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book survey suggested Wednesday. Four districts – Kansas City, Philadelphia, St. Louis and New York – reported no improvement and “a growing […]

STATUS CHECK COMMENTARY: BARBARIANS INSIDE THE GATE TEST AMERICA

WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The following is Tuesday night’s status check of developments in the U.S. that can influence economic, health and political outcomes. ·        As often noted about the U.S. Congress, months, even years can go by without much getting done but every once in a while there’s an explosion of activity. After the financial […]