In the early days post-inauguration, will financials keep doing well? Will we continue to see the kind of outperformance that we’ve witnessed recently?

After a strong start, 2017 slowed down considerably in terms of economic data. Last week’s news, which centered on the consumer, largely disappointed. Although it’s too early to get very concerned, the numbers suggest that higher confidence levels aren’t yet translating into actual growth.

2016 ended with a bang, as the Conference Board’s consumer confidence survey once again surprised to the upside. Coming in at 113.7 for December—up from 107.1 and beating expectations of 109—this is the highest level since 2001, suggesting that consumers are increasingly optimistic, despite weak personal income and expense growth.  

The big economic news of the week came in this morning: the jobs report.

Despite a jump in business and consumer confidence since the election, some of the facts on the ground have been weaker. To spur on faster economic growth, that confidence needs to result in action. Fortunately, this morning’s jobs report suggests that it is.

This week, someone asked me about the excess reserves held by the banking system and what the Federal Reserve is likely to do about it. As it turned out, what he really wanted to know was whether inflation is likely to take off and which signals might alert us if the economy and markets are about to roll over.

After the Trump bump and the Santa Claus rally, stocks slumped today, stalling the drive for Dow 20K. With all 11 S&P sectors lower, is that milestone slipping out of reach?

Last week’s data was generally positive, with the housing market doing well and business investment improving. Consumer income and spending growth paused, however, suggesting that we need to keep an eye on the situation of the average American consumer.

On November 8, a major event shook the world of hundreds of millions of people. And no, I’m not talking about the U.S. election. The event I’m referring to is the decision by the Indian government to invalidate most of its own currency.

Last week’s economic data wasn’t really terrible, but it was disappointing after the surprisingly strong numbers we’ve seen in recent weeks. Both consumer and business showed lower-than-expected gains and largely failed to meet expectations. Although the economy continues to improve and trends remain positive, the stream of positive data took a breather last week.

The outcome of this week’s Federal Reserve meeting was as everyone had expected: the Fed raised short-term rates by 25 basis points. The surprising part was the more hawkish tone of the surrounding commentary.