Fed Rate Cut Fever Returns

April 25, 2025 Fed bashing is back.  A week ago Trump’s economic advisor, Kevin Hassett, said that the administration was studying options to remove Powell.  Ouch!  On Monday Trump managed to spook the markets  when he called for preemptive rate cuts by the Fed...

Consumer Sentiment

April 25, 2025 The final estimate of consumer sentiment for April fell 4.8 points to 52.2 which compares to the preliminary estimate of 50.8.  This index declined 10.7 points in March and 3.4 points in February.  This is the fourth consecutive decline in sentiment. ...

Existing Home Sales

April 24, 2025 . Existing home sales fell 5.9% in March to 4,020 thousand after having risen 4.4% in February.  Our expectation is that a steady increase in jobs will boost income, mortgage rates will edge lower in the months ahead, and prices should be about stable...

Durable Goods Orders

April 24, 2025 Durable goods orders rose 9.2% in March after having risen 0.9% in February. .   Durable goods orders have risen 11.9% in the past year.  But the big increase in March almost entirely reflected a jump in civilian aircraft orders. Much of the change in...

New Home Sales

April 23, 2025 New home sales jumped 7.4% in March to 724 thousand after having risen 3.1% in February.  In the past year new home sales have risen 6.0%.   New home sales can be volatile from month to month, but it seems clear that they are in a gradual uptrend....