Recent Updates
- New Zealand: NZIER Business Opinion Survey (Q1)
- US: Chicago Fed Survey of Business Conditions, Survey of Consumer Expectations (Mar)
- Kazakhstan: Export/Import Prices (Feb)
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Economy in Brief
FIBER: Industrial Commodity Prices Improve Modestly
The FIBER Industrial Materials Price Index increased 0.9% during the four weeks ended April 9...
EMU Retail Sales Jump, Regaining Some of the January Drop
February finds EU retail sales and motor vehicle registration rebounding...
U.S. PPI Posts Broad-Based Strength in March
The Producer Price Index for final demand jumped 1.0% (4.2% y/y) during March...
U.S. Wholesale Inventories Post Strong February Gain; Sales Fall
Wholesale inventories increased 0.6% (2.0% y/y) during February...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Unexpectedly Increase
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 744,000 during the week ended April 3...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
Monetary Policy Blunder: Not Managing Economic & Financial Outcomes Equally
Monetary Policy at a Crossroad: Policymakers Need to Break Promise of Easy Money to Avoid Boom-Bust
State Coincident Indexes in January
Data Surprises, Markets and COVID
by Tom Moeller May 1, 2019
The Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously at today's meeting to leave the federal funds rate target in a range between 2.25% and 2.50%. The decision was expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey.
The Fed stated that the labor market was "strong" and that the economy was growing at a "solid" rate. Growth in consumer demand and business investment were observed to have slowed.
On the pricing front, the Fed noted that total inflation and price gains, excluding food & energy, were running below the Fed's 2.0% target. Survey-based measures of long-term inflation expectations were little changed.
The press release for today's FOMC meeting can be found here.
| Current | Last | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal Funds Rate Target | 2.25% - 2.50% | 2.25% - 2.50% | 1.82% | 1.00% | 0.40% | 0.13 |
