Macro

FMI Weekly Data Preview; March Dollar & Trade Prices

written by Michael Lewis on April 13, 2015

FMI’s Preview of this week’s major data releases and a review of the US Dollar and Trade Prices for March.

Data Round-Up: March Industrial Production a Lamb, April Looking Lion-ish

written by Michael Lewis on April 15, 2015

FMI’s analysis of today’s March Industrial Production report and their review of this morning’s April NY Fed Empire regional manufacturing index.

Retail Sales Perked Up, But Real Consumption Underwhelmed for 15Q1

written by Michael Lewis on April 14, 2015

FMI’s analyses of today’s March Retail Sales, February Business Inventories and March PPI reports, as well as the March NFIB Small Business Optimism Index.

April Could be “Do or Die” For TPP, Part 2

written by Richard Katz on April 10, 2015

In this second part of the report, Richard explains why there might not be a TPP deal reached at the summit between Abe and Obama in late April.

April Could be “Do or Die" for TPP, Part 1

written by Richard Katz on April 09, 2015

April may be the “do or die” month for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement (FTA). Two hurdles come in April, and failure to clear either one could doom TPP to become another Doha Round, i.e., trade negotiations that turn into a gabfest that goes on forever but is never concluded.

Data Round-Up: UI Claims Trend Sets New Cycle-Low, Labor Markets Continue to Improve

written by Michael Lewis on April 09, 2015

FMI’s review of the latest Weekly Initial UI Claims & Rail Traffic data.

One Soft Jobs Report Will Not Derail Fed’s Rate-Hike Plans

written by Michael Lewis on April 08, 2015

FMI’s Commentary on the impact, or lack thereof, of the weak March employment report on the timing of the first funds target rate hike and on takeaways from the Minutes of the March FOMC meeting released this afternoon.