LAST WEEK

News & Commentary Weekly Highlights:

• Wall Street Journal: Gig Economy Attracts Many Workers, Few Full-Time Jobs (Thursday)
• CNBC: China’s Central Bank to Inject $1.53B in Cash (Thursday)
• Wall Street Journal: ECB Minutes Add Fuel to Expectations of Further Stimulus (Thursday)
• Market Watch: Fed Can Be ‘Unhurried’ to Raise Interest Rates: Rosengren (Tuesday)
• Real Clear Markets: On the Budget, the U.S. Needs More Straight Talk (Monday)

Top Economic Indicator Highlights:

Consumer Price Index (January)

• Change from previous month: 0.0%
• Change less food & energy (M/M): 0.3%
• Noteworthy: The increase in the overall index was broad-based, with increases in shelter and medical care as the largest contributors. The headline index rose 1.4% over the last 12 months, unadjusted. Core CPI (less food and energy) has increased 2.2% over the past 12 months.
• Series Detail: The CPI is a collection of indexes that measures the average change in consumer prices over time for a fixed basket of goods and services from the perspective of the consumer; whereas the producer price index for final demand (PPI-FD) measures price changes from the producer’s perspective.

THIS WEEK

Upcoming Economic Reports & Releases:

Major Indicators

• S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index (9am, Tuesday)
• Existing Home Sales (10am, Tuesday)
• New Home Sales (10am, Wednesday)
• Durable Goods Orders (8:30am, Thursday)
• Gross Domestic Product (8:30am, Friday)
• International Trade in Goods (8:30am, Friday)
• Personal Income and Outlays (8:30am, Friday)

Reports

• 2016 Economic Report of the President (Monday)

Chart of the Week:

It would appear that age 55 and older is becoming the new 25-to-54 years old. The chart above shows the rise in the share of workers age 55 and older that are participating in the workforce, a particularly popular trend for the baby boomer generation (ages 52 to 70 this year) as it ages out of prime-age worker status. By comparison, the labor force participation rate for prime-age workers (age 25 to 54) has continued a steady decline over the same time period. The prime-age labor force participation rate has fallen 3.5 percentage points from its high in January 1999 to 81.1% this January. By comparison, the labor force participation rate for workers age 55 and older has increased by 8.5 percentage points to 40.0% over the same time frame.