In 2013, the Federal Reserve initiated a comprehensive survey, The Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households, which attempted to provide a snapshot of people’s financial lives. At that time, just five years after the 2008 financial crisis, many were still reeling. Some had lost homes, others were forced to tap savings and retirement assets, and many were still out of work and/or contending with fewer hours.
Read MoreIf you feel like things are more expensive, you are right. Despite a slightly weaker than expected inflation report in April, this year, prices have accelerated faster than Fed officials anticipated just a few months ago. Last week we learned that headline inflation increased to a 14-month high of 2.5 percent from a year ago in April, due in large part to rising gas prices. Excluding food and energy the core rate increased by 2.1 percent.
Read MoreWhat happened to the tax cut bump to economic growth? After expanding by a brisk 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and the 3.3 percent rate in the third quarter, the economy decelerated a bit in the first quarter to an annualized pace of 2.3 percent, consistent with good, not great growth.
Read MoreStocks dropped by nearly 3 percent Thursday and another 2 percent on Friday, closing out the steepest one-week percentage decline for US indexes since January 2016. The proximate cause was President Trump's announcement that the U.S. would levy 25 percent tariffs on up to $60 billion dollars worth of Chinese imports.
Read MoreGet ready for the first Fed rate hike of 2018. Newly minted Fed Chair Jerome Powell will preside over this week’s two-day meeting, where officials will also release their updated economic projections and future rate hikes. Analysts at Capital Economics believe that Fed “consensus is shifting from three to four rate hikes this year.”
Read MoreIt’s always interesting to look back at the year that was…here are my 7 Biggest Money Stories of 2017:
Read MoreThe Fed likes to act in December…and this December will be no different. When the central bankers convene their two-day policy meeting this week, they are widely expected to increase short-term interest rates by a quarter of a percent to a new range of 1.25 to 1.5 percent. It would be the third increase of the year, the fourth in the past year and the fifth of the rate increase cycle.
Read MoreNow that President Trump has named Jerome (“Jay”) Powell as the next Federal Reserve Chairman, to succeed Janet Yellen, you may experience one of those, “Why do I care about this?” moments.
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