Michael Strain: What the AI Pessimists Are Missing
 05/16/24 11:00AM - WASHINGTON, DC – The current debate about generative AI focuses disproportionately on the disruption it might unleash. While it is true technological advances always disrupt legacy industries and existing systems and processes, one must not ignore the opportunities they can create or the risks they can mitigate. Pessimism suffuses …more…
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Alexander William Salter: April’s Disinflation Delivery
 05/16/24 10:28AM - Although inflation remains high,disinflation continued in April. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.3 percent last month, for a year-over-year change of 3.4 percent. The Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, also rose 0.3 percent on the month and 3.6 percent year-over-year. On …more…
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Veronique de Rugy: No, Politicians Can't 'Fix' Prices—and That's OK
 05/16/24 12:01AM - Price controls lead to the misallocation of resources, shortages, diminished product quality, and black markets. Prices are threads stitching together the fabric of our economy. They guide countless producers, here and abroad, to meet the most urgent demands of countless consumers. Prices enable the economic coordination of millions …more…
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Nathan Sheets: Investors should not tear up their playbooks over geopolitical risks
 05/16/24 12:00AM - Current international tensions are concerning for markets but not unprecedented. Geopolitical pressures have posed unrelenting challenges for the global economy in recent years. Activity has been restrained by the Russia-Ukraine war, hostilities in the Middle East, and ongoing tensions between the US and China. In tandem, populist …more…
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Peter Earle: AIER Everyday Price Index Rises for Fifth Consecutive Month
05/15/24 03:14PM - The AIER Everyday Price Index rose for a fifth consecutive month in April 2024. The 0.59 percent increase brings our proprietary inflation measure to 290.9. AIER Everyday Price Index vs. US Consumer Price Index (NSA, 1987 = 100)
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Bryan Cutsinger: Is The Fed Manipulating the Market?
05/15/24 02:06AM - Some critics of the Federal Reserve argue that central bankers manipulate the market whenever they adjust interest rates. For example, in an article in the Wall Street Journal, monetary economist Judy Shelton writes, "When the Fed tightens by raising interest rates, its goal is to increase borrowing costs." She contends that the Fed's approach …more…
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Jeanna Smialek: Fed Chair’s Confidence in Slowing Inflation Is 'Not as High’ as Before
 05/14/24 02:40PM - Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, reiterated Tuesday that policymakers were poised to hold interest rates steady at a high level as they waited for evidence that inflation is slowing further. Fed officials entered 2024 expecting to make interest rate cuts, having lifted borrowing costs sharply to a more than two-decade high of …more…
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Peter Morici: American exceptionalism on full display in financial markets ... or is it?
 05/14/24 11:44AM - Washington has several options if public debt skyrockets, but none of them are compelling. The U.S. economy has confounded forecasters’ dour predictions, but not the optimism of financial markets. A recession appears less likely as businesses keep adding jobs. Labor markets are absorbing more immigrants without threatening native-born …more…
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Jed Graham: The PPI Has Good News For The Fed; S&P 500 Rises Ahead Of CPI
 05/14/24 11:10AM - Producer price index data out Tuesday showed that inflation ran hotter in April, but downward revisions to earlier data assuaged concerns. Meanwhile, health care prices, the biggest input to the Federal Reserve's primary core inflation rate, moderated a bit as airfares fell. After the PPI data, the S&P 500 edged higher in morning stock …more…
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Nick Timiraos: Fed Chair Jerome Powell Maintains Wait-and-See Posture on Inflation and Rates
 05/14/24 10:46AM - ‘We’re just going to have to see where the inflation data fall out,’ says central bank leader. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell affirmed the central bank’s plans to hold interest rates at the highest level in more than two decades as it awaits evidence that a slowdown in inflation will resume after setbacks this year. Powell said he …more…
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Allison Schrager: Higher for Longer? Rates Could Be Higher Forever
 05/14/24 05:30AM - If borrowing costs remain elevated, there will be greater downside risk for investments. But it's not all bad. Our holiday from history has come to an end. I am referring not to world peace but to the zero-interest-rate environment so many people expected would last forever. Despite all the talk about when the US Federal Reserve will cut rates …more…
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John Cochrane and Amit Seru: Preventing Bailouts Is Simple, but It Isn’t Easy
05/13/24 04:32PM - The Fed could simply stop blocking run-proof banks from emerging. But that would take political will. There was a financial crisis in 2008. The U.S. government responded with bailouts. If people know they will be bailed out in the next crisis, they take too much risk. Recognizing this danger, the government vastly expanded financial …more…
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