A few things have happened in the past couple of days. But most people are focused on the stock market, which dropped sharply, bounced, and then pulled back again. As a result, there have been a number of headlines about how the bear market is back, and so forth. For the average investor, this kind of volatility is worrisome. How bad can it get?

One of the top headlines on the New York Times website is about how Congress is working to pass a bill to avert a government shutdown later this week, postponing it until after the midterms. Sounds like an important story! Yet when I look at both the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, there is nothing to be seen. Strange, that!

Each week, we break down the latest U.S. economic reports, including what the results mean for the overall health of the economy. Here, you will find how economists’ forecasts compare with actual results, key takeaways to consider, as well as a list of what’s on tap for the week ahead. 

We are now in another downswing in the ongoing bear market. Using the S&P 500 as a measure, as I write this the markets are down 22 percent from the peak at the end of last year and just under 14 percent from the end of the most recent rally in August. This year, there have been four drops and three rallies—and we are down quite a bit. That doesn’t feel good. But, feel good or not, here we are. So, the real question is: what should we do about it? To figure that out, we need to look at two things.

The other day, I wrote a post about how, with expectations very hawkish for the Fed, the thing to watch for in the latest Fed meeting was whether Chair Jay Powell managed to sneak in some hidden dovishness. He could have said, for example, that the Fed remains data dependent, suggesting that it would ease if the data improved. He could have said, for instance, that there were signs that inflation is moderating. He could have said a lot of things.

So, what will the Fed do at its latest meeting? The short version is that almost everyone thinks it will raise rates by 75 bps (or 3/4 of a percent). Almost, in this case, means that a minority of people think the Fed will raise rates by more, like a full percentage point. The takeaway is that everyone does expect rates to go up—and by an amount that, prior to the past couple of months, would have been shockingly large.

Each week, we break down the latest U.S. economic reports, including what the results mean for the overall health of the economy. Here, you will find how economists’ forecasts compare with actual results, key takeaways to consider, as well as a list of what’s on tap for the week ahead. 

We're excited to roll out a new and improved format for our Monthly Market Risk Update (just like we did with our Economic Risk Factor Update last week). Each month, we will continue to review the biggest market risk factors, but we’ll do so in a SlideShare format we hope you will find both easy to read and informative. Let’s take a closer look.

Yesterday’s inflation print was a big surprise—a bad one. Yet, looking at the headlines, you could be forgiven for wondering why. The headline CPI, after all, increased by only 0.1 percent, after being flat the prior month. If we annualize those two months, the inflation rate would be only 0.6 percent per year, which is the opposite of what everyone is panicking about. It isn’t that simple, of course. But given that and the fact that inflation for the past 12 months was down from 8.5 percent to 8.3 percent, it would seem inflation is slowing. So, why the panic?

Each week, we break down the latest U.S. economic reports, including what the results mean for the overall health of the economy. Here, you will find how economists’ forecasts compare with actual results, key takeaways to consider, as well as a list of what’s on tap for the week ahead. 

We're excited to roll out a new and improved format for our Economic Risk Factor Update. Each month, we will continue to review the biggest risk factors to the economy, but we’ll do so in a SlideShare format we hope you will find both easy to read and informative. Let’s take a closer look.

August was a resumption of the earlier pullback after a surprisingly strong July. The S&P 500 lost 4.08 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dropped 3.72 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 4.53 percent. Markets resumed their downward trend for the year, bouncing, in some cases, off long-term trend lines. Internationally, developed markets fell, although emerging markets eked out a small gain.

Each week, we break down the latest U.S. economic reports, including what the results mean for the overall health of the economy. Here, you will find how economists’ forecasts compare with actual results, key takeaways to consider, as well as a list of what’s on tap for the week ahead. 

After a strong rebound in July, markets pulled back again in August. U.S. and developed international markets ended the month down by 3 percent to 5 percent, and fixed income declined. The primary driver here was rising rates. Higher rates provide for lower stock market values, and with fears of a recession taking down expected earnings, the market had a double whammy. Still, there was good economic news. Job growth beat expectations, and consumer and producer inflation showed signs of peaking.