Last week, I wrote about the Federal Reserve and how their plans to buy bonds was a form of quantitative easing that should boost the economy. Since then, some new economic data has shown that this may be just what we need. Retail sales slipped in the latest data release. Sales declined 0.3%, the first drop since February. CNBC reported that this is “raising fears that a slowdown in the American manufacturing sector could be starting to bleed into the consumer side of the economy.” I believe the most important part of the news was how wrong… Read More
Last week, I wrote about the Federal Reserve and how their plans to buy bonds was a form of quantitative easing that should boost the economy. Since then, some new economic data has shown that this may be just what we need. Retail sales slipped in the latest data release. Sales declined 0.3%, the first drop since February. CNBC reported that this is “raising fears that a slowdown in the American manufacturing sector could be starting to bleed into the consumer side of the economy.” I believe the most important part of the news was how wrong analysts were. They had been expecting an increase of 0.3%. Analysts seem to be out of sync with consumers, and that tends to happen at important turning points in the economy. For now, this is news to watch. One bad month for retailers isn’t something the Fed (or investors) should act on. But the Fed should be worried that this weakness comes at the same time as manufacturing is showing cause for concern. —Recommended Link— These 12 words have paid $1,200 a week, for the past 84 weeks Hundreds of baby boomers are quitting their… Read More