The recent string of upbeat economic releases had
market watchers and businesses expecting the Federal Reserve would signal a
change in its stance on interest rates. Some of those positive data releases
included:
· The
Bureau of Economic Analysis tweaked its “preliminary” (i.e., second) estimate
of 2Q2014 growth in real U.S. gross
domestic product (GDP) up to a seasonally adjusted and annualized rate
(SAAR) of 4.2 percent. The revised 2Q rate of expansion is 0.2 percentage point
faster than the initial (“advance”) estimate, and 6.3 percentage points above
1Q’s -2.1 percent contraction. This is the largest positive quarter-to-quarter
improvement in GDP growth in roughly 14 years.
…
As a result of that positive news, the Bank of America
Merrill Lynch Fund (BAML) Manager Survey for September
found investors were increasingly expecting the Federal Reserve to raise
interest rates in the spring of 2015. …
In the middle of all that good news, however, the
August jobs numbers upset the apple cart.
Click here to read
the rest of the September 2014 Macro Pulse
recap.
The Macro
Pulse blog is a commentary about recent economic developments affecting the
forest products industry. The monthly Macro Pulse newsletter summarizes the previous 30 days of commentary available on
this website.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.