LAST WEEK

News & Commentary Weekly Highlights:

• Bloomberg: Dow Sinks 390 Points in Global Selloff, Crude Falls Near $29 (Thursday)
• Market Watch: Rosengren, Summers Say Economy May Not Be Strong Enough to Handle 4 Fed Hikes (Wednesday)
• Wall Street Journal: Six Years Later, 93% of U.S. Counties Haven’t Recovered From Recession, Study Finds (Tuesday)
• Wall Street Journal: The Big but Hidden U.S. Jobs Problem (Monday)
• Market Watch: Nearly Half of College Grads Are Underemployed. But They’re Not Literally Baristas (Monday)

 

Top Economic Indicator Highlights:

Retail Sales (advance, December)

• Change from previous month: -0.1%
•  Change excluding autos (M/M): -0.1%
•  Change in general merchandise (M/M): 0.0%
• Noteworthy: The general merchandise category fell 1.0% over the month, and electronics & appliances also fell. Total retail sales rose only 2.1% in 2015, the smallest gain since 2009. The advance estimate is based on a subsample of the Census Bureau’s full retail and food services sample. The Atlanta Fed revised its Q4-2015 real GDP growth forecast down to 0.6% following the retail sales report.

 

THIS WEEK

Upcoming Economic Reports & Releases:

Major Indicators

• Housing Market Index (10am, Tuesday)
• Consumer Price Index (8:30am, Wednesday)
• Housing Starts (8:30am, Wednesday)
• Existing Home Sales (10am, Friday)

 

Reports

• CBO Summary of Updated Budget and Economic Outlook (11am, Tuesday)

 

Chart of the Week: