Greetings,
The United States: Let’s begin with the FOMC decision, which, despite the 25bps rate hike, was more dovish than anticipated. While some economists expected the Fed to tilt toward four rate hikes in 2018, the ‘dot plot’ rate projections were unchanged for this year (still three hikes). As expected, the guidance for 2019 and 2020 ticked up.
Here is the dot-plot over time for 2019 and 2020.
The FOMC boosted its forecasts for US GDP growth and lowered the projection for the unemployment rate. The central bank’s inflation outlook also ticked up slightly.
Equity Markets: Amazon’s market cap is now higher than Google’s and Microsoft’s.
Cryptocurrency: Here is the breakdown of the total global blockchain spending.
Energy Markets: US net oil imports are trending lower.
Europe: Central European economies appear to be slowing. At least in part, this is the result of worsening labor shortages and higher labor costs.
Food for Thought: The impact of last year’s hurricanes on mortgage delinquencies.
Edited by Joseph N Cohen
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Thanks to Josh Marte (@joshdigga), Matt Garrett (@MattGarrett3), Joseph Cohen (@josephncohen), Ycharts.com, S&P Global, and Moody’s Investors Service for helping with the research for the Daily Shot.
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