The retail sales number published yesterday was generally weak, and January was revised downward. Industrial production looked pretty good today, as did housing starts. The stock market and bond market are seesawing. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Averages are each down significantly over the last month, but have stabilized somewhat in the last week. Similarly, bond yields have declined, generally a good thing, over the past month but have been fairly level the last week. To say that people, companies and the market are unsettled would be an understatement. Everyone is whipsawed by tariff announcements, other foreign affairs issues, uncertainty about where federal spending and the deficit are headed. So no surprise that indicators on economy-wide trends are also in flux. Going to be an interesting next few months.
