Rick Rieder Profile picture
Apr 3, 2020 6 tweets 5 min read Read on X
The March #JobsReport released this morning largely reflects lagged conditions, as there’s a mismatch between the timing of #coronavirus-related developments later in the month of March, and the timing of the @BLS_gov’s establishment survey earlier in the month.
And the decline in nonfarm #payrolls, of -701,000 jobs, while a sharp reversal from strong Jan/Feb #employment figures, is going to get much worse in the months to come, as the #BLS’s surveys catch up with the reality of significant #economic shutdowns across most states.
Therefore, #employment data such as today’s report, and initial and continuing claims for #unemployment, will grow in importance from here as a broad barometer of #economic health and for understanding the transition of the #economy through this crisis.
That said, the #fiscal policy embodied in the #CARESAct contains potent stimulus that is being systematically underestimated by conventional wisdom. Indeed, nearly all of the targeted categories of the #legislation have meaningful multipliers associated with them.
Further, as @federalreserve policy is concerned, we’re convinced that its response was truly historic, wholly debunking the incorrect notion that the central #bank’s #policy toolkit is finite.
Together, these actions are staggering and unprecedented, and will go some distance toward helping to cushion the #economic blow of this #healthcrisis and help get the country to the other side. Image

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Rick Rieder

Rick Rieder Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @RickRieder

Dec 19, 2024
Yesterday’s @federalreserve move signals something of an ending to a story that has played out for several months now, in terms of the Fed’s rate cutting cycle, associated with what were significantly restrictive interest rates.
The #FOMC cut policy interest rates by a quarter-point, to the 4.25% to 4.50% range, and communicated more #hawkishly through the updated dot plot/Summary of Economic Projections (SEP), as well as during the Chair’s press conference. To us, this suggests that we’ve entered a new phase of the rate cutting cycle.
We have often argued that the more elevated Funds rate creates great pressure on lower income cohorts through the housing, credit card, and auto finance channels than is worthwhile at this stage, particularly given where inflation has decelerated to.
Read 9 tweets
Nov 14, 2024
As usual, today’s #CPI report created great anticipation and then introspection upon its release. It’s always amazing that a few basis points (bps), one way or the other, can have such a large impact on market perception, and presumably on the interpretation of how the @federalreserve will react to such a number.
The truth, however, is that the #Fed considers a multitude of #inflation readings, with a higher emphasis on the Core PCE measure. Yet, we find ourselves at a point in time where the range of outcomes for inflation related to recently solid economic growth, to newly elected political officials, and to the consequential potential for higher tariffs and higher levels of growth, etc., has led to an enormous focus on this number.
To that end, today’s report showed still firm inflation readings of 0.28% month-over-month, and 3.33% year-over-year for Core CPI (which excludes the volatile food and energy components) and 0.24% and 2.60% for headline CPI, over the same time periods.
Read 10 tweets
Nov 4, 2024
Upon reflection, last week’s #JobsReport was, as always, interesting and helpful for understanding where employment currently stands, which is at the top of the priority list for the @federalreserve.
However, the data is also challenging to interpret, in terms of true job growth, given distortions from recent hurricanes in the southeast of the U.S., labor strikes in the Pacific Northwest, and the uncertain impact of these events.
Moreover, this payroll report occurred right in the middle of some major economic and market-moving events, such as the U.S. elections, the announcement of the U.K. budget, major tech and other corporate earnings, the onslaught of other economic data, and this week’s #FOMC meeting.
Read 13 tweets
Oct 10, 2024
Call it the Couldn’t Possibly Ignore report. That’s how important CPI has been in the past few years, as it has kept markets on edge as to what it means for Federal Reserve policy and interest rates across the curve.
It’s still important, but the Fed’s clear focus has shifted toward more balanced priorities, with considerably more emphasis on the labor market for judging how quickly (if at all) to move the Fed funds rate.
In today’s data, Core CPI (excluding volatile food and energy components) printed at 0.31% month-over-month and 3.31% year-over-year.
Read 12 tweets
Oct 1, 2024
CIO Charts of the Week: The Economy Is Doing Better Than We Originally Anticipated

While many called for recession in 2024 due to recent weakness in the labor market, the triggering of the Sahm rule, and generally weaker growth prospects, last week’s GDP revisions from the @bea_news helped to quell many of those concerns for the time being. Real GDP was revised up from 22.9tn to 23.2 tn, thus highlighting that the economy is doing better than previously expected, boasting a 3.0% growth rate quarter over quarter for Q2 and a 3.2% growth rate for 2023.Image
Almost more impressively, GDI, a measure often cited as the better representation of growth through the tracking of income rather than expenditures, had previously been running over $500bn below GDP! This growing discrepancy blurred the picture of the state of the economy and called into question the relative strength of households as they seemed to be spending more via GDP, but not making more via GDI. However, in last week’s revisions, GDI was revised up to match GDP!Image
This paradigm was largely due to impressive upward revision in personal and disposable income spanning back to 2021. So, while the data previously created the narrative that households were stretched and potentially spending beyond their means, these revisions demonstrate that in aggregate, households are in a decent place.Image
Read 5 tweets
Sep 18, 2024
The markets have been riveted with a singular focus on one number, as a reflection of the Federal Reserve policy stance, and the primary question has been whether the Fed would cut 25, or 50, basis points (bps) at today’s meeting.
As if one number carried as much relevance to financial assets as Pi does to mathematics and physics, in determining a circle’s diameter to its circumference.
A 50-bps cut, bringing the Fed Funds rate to 4.75% to 5.00% is not Pi, a special number that reveals many secrets. The future rate path remains uncertain and data dependent, and all that has happened is the Fed has jumped out to a faster start on the path to neural, an appropriate move given how far they are from their likely destination.
Read 10 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(