March 2015 Macro Pulse -- Watching Paint Dry

That is what the markets seem to be doing while waiting for the outcome of the Federal Reserve meeting on March 18. Everything is on hold until its conclusion. Meanwhile, the economy appears to be going nowhere fast. Growth in gross domestic product (GDP) – heralded as proof the economy had finally achieved “escape velocity” when hitting a seasonally adjusted and annualized rate of 5.0% in 3Q2014 – has slumped back to a more typical post-Great Recession rate of 2.2% in 4Q2014. Moreover, the Atlanta Fed’s “nowcast” of 1Q2015 GDP was a mere +0.3% as of March 17. Factors contributing to that tepid growth rate include the following:

Click here to read the rest of the March 2015 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.