Post from First Trust Economics Blog Brian S. Wesbury – Chief Economist Robert Stein, CFA – Deputy Chief Economist March 20th, 2023 The late great Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was often in dissent in key legal cases during his long career. Almost thirty years ago, he wrote that “Day by day, case by case, the Supreme […]
Post from First Trust Economics Blog Brian S. Wesbury – Chief Economist Robert Stein, CFA – Deputy Chief Economist March 13th, 2023 While many investors are focused on the financial troubles affecting Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and whether those troubles will spread, there were two other major issues that hit the markets last week: the Biden budget […]
Post from First Trust Economics Blog Brian S. Wesbury – Chief Economist Robert Stein, CFA – Deputy Chief Economist March 6th, 2023 In multiple ways, this is the most difficult time we have ever seen to make a forecast. “Unprecedented” actions by government – locking down the economy, printing, borrowing, and spending trillions of extra dollars – […]
Post from First Trust Economics Blog Brian S. Wesbury – Chief Economist Robert Stein, CFA – Deputy Chief Economist Feb 27th, 2023 In the past few weeks, a growing chorus of economists and investors have decided that the pessimistic narrative had it wrong all along, that the US isn’t headed for a hard landing, which would mean […]
Post from First Trust Economics Blog Brian S. Wesbury – Chief Economist Robert Stein, CFA – Deputy Chief Economist Feb 21th, 2023 You can’t read or watch financial news these days without a heavy dose of speculation about what the Fed is going to do with short-term interest rates, when it’s going to do it, and how […]
Post from First Trust Economics Blog Brian S. Wesbury – Chief Economist Robert Stein, CFA – Deputy Chief Economist Feb 14th, 2023 Markets have been volatile, with reports convincing many that the Fed is done hiking rates. But this week, we get data that may change some minds. Why? Because the economic reports for January are likely […]
Post from First Trust Economics Blog Brian S. Wesbury – Chief Economist Robert Stein, CFA – Deputy Chief Economist Feb 6th, 2023 At the beginning of the season, not many predicted that the Philadelphia Eagles would be in the Super Bowl this year. But, they had a fantastic season and are favored over the Kansas City Chiefs. […]
Post from First Trust Economics Blog Brian S. Wesbury – Chief Economist Robert Stein, CFA – Deputy Chief Economist Jan 29th, 2023 The US federal budget is on an unsustainable path…but not for the reasons that most people think. Yes, the national debt is $31 trillion, well higher than annual GDP, and only going higher. Yes, the […]
Post from First Trust Economics Blog Brian S. Wesbury – Chief Economist Robert Stein, CFA – Deputy Chief Economist Jan 23rd, 2023 First, the good news: we estimate that real GDP grew at a solid 2.8% annual rate in the fourth quarter. But you shouldn’t dwell on the solid GDP report that comes out Thursday. Why? Because […]
Post from First Trust Economics Blog Brian S. Wesbury – Chief Economist Robert Stein, CFA – Deputy Chief Economist Jan 17th, 2023 We wrote last week about the soft landing that markets now seem to expect. If the US does have a soft landing it would be because the Federal Reserve tightened enough to slow inflation, but […]
