Viewpoints

The monetary policy guide has fundamentally changed and so to has the business cycle. Changes in monetary policies and practices nowadays stimulate finance over spending. The power and risks of equity markets should not be overlooked [...]

The abrupt drop in average hourly earnings in December to a 3% gain, 50 basis points below the run-rate of the past year, is as much of a surprise as it is a puzzle. How can the wage data show a one-month plunge in earnings growth [...]

The state GDP figures for Q3 were heavily influenced by gains in refining and other industries using petroleum feedstocks. Texas was the fastest-growing state, with its real output up at 4 percent annual rate, with its growth led by [...]

Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, has stated that the relationship between unemployment and inflation “was a strong one 50 years ago…. and has gone away". This relationship, called the Phillips Curve, now has disappeared [...]

In the past two decades there have been two fundamentally different types of equity market booms that resulted in the market valuation of US companies relative to Nominal GDP soaring to equivalent record highs. Yet, during the dot.com [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's estimates of state coincident activity for November continue to show some divergence in activity across the nation. Over the last 12 months, only 27 states report increases in their index in the [...]

Well it's Festivus 2019 and time for the airing of grievances. My big beef with you people this Festivus is why you are having trouble explaining tepid wage growth in the face of a low unemployment rate. Firstly, let's examine why the [...]

State labor markets had mixed results in November, with some weak results offsetting a number of strong showings. Somewhat surprisingly, in light of the strong national results, only 6 states reported statistically significant gains [...]