Economic Outlook

Coauthor: Linda Bowen 2018 has been a good time to fasten your seatbelts. The markets have remained volatile over the last four months, after a stellar performance in 2017. The broader markets went parabolic through January, followed by 1,000-point swings. After the sharp correction in early February and continued volatility through early May, the market recovered Read more

The new normal on Wall Street appears to be wild fluctuations, like the Dow Jones Industrial Average 1000-point drops earlier this year and the rapid-fire price reversals that can shift the mood from optimism to pessimism in a matter of seconds. There have already been 28 trading days in 2018 on which the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index Read more

The Economy Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.6% in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to the “advance” estimate released by BEA. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 3.2%. Real GDP increased 2.3% in 2017 compared with an increase of 1.5% in 2016 and 2.9% in 2015. Consumer Read more

The Economy Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 3.0% in the third quarter of 2017, according to BEA’s “advance” estimate. In the second quarter, real GDP increased by 3.1%. The increase in real GDP in the third quarter reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), private inventory investment, nonresidential Read more

The Economy Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.6% (advanced estimate) in the second quarter of 2017. In the first quarter of 2017, real GDP increased 1.2% (revised). For the first half of 2017, real GDP increased 1.9%. According to the BEA, “The increase in real GDP in the second Read more

After the housing crash and resulting financial crisis, investor attention was focused on the housing market recovery. Now that the crisis is over and housing has recovered, investors are paying less attention to this area of the economy. Because housing is typically the largest purchase most people make, it is important for both homeowners and Read more