Wall Street is Confused and Divided Over How Many Times the Fed Will Cut Rates This Year (Macro News for May 4, 2024 – May 10, 2024)

Economists and investors alike are having a hard time digesting the Fed's comments after the most recent Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The general consensus was that the Fed's stance was relatively dovish, and they expect the Fed will begin lowering interest rates later this year. However, there was disagreement on how many times the Fed would cut rates with the overall range of estimates falling between one and four times.

Fears About Stagflation are Mounting in the U.S. It’s Every Central Banker’s Worst Nightmare (Macro News for April 27, 2024 – May 3, 2024)

Strong U.S. economic growth for the past few years was dampened by the first quarter 2024 results. U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) dipped to an annualized rate of 1.6% relative to the robust 3.4% rate posted in the fourth quarter of 2023. While those results seem to align with the Federal Reserve's contractionary monetary policy, the inflation results do not. Inflation is once again moving higher and farther away from the Fed's 2% target rate.

The U.S. Dollar is Strengthening. Here’s What’s Driving the Rally and What it Means for Americans (Macro News for April 20, 2024 – April 26, 2024)

The U.S. dollar continued its upward trend with the U.S. dollar index closing at 106.26, which is its highest level since November 2023. The index measures the strength of the dollar against six peers. The peer currencies include the Euro, the Japanese yen, the Canadian dollar, the British pound, the Swiss franc, and the Swedish krona.

IMF Raises Growth Forecast for ‘Overheated’ U.S. Economy and Urges Caution on Rate Cuts (Macro News for April 13, 2024 – April 19, 2024)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) increased its forecast of U.S. economic growth for 2024 to 2.7%. This new forecast is 0.6% higher than the previous forecast. The U.S. growth rate is far above its developed economy peers which include Germany, Japan, and Canada. The 20 nations that use the euro are expected to grow by a lackluster 0.8% for the year 2024.