For data available through 2/15. New datapoints tomorrow, for data available through 2/22.
Figure 1: Weekly Economic Index (Lewis-Mertens-Stock/NY Fed) (blue), and Weekly Economic Conditions Index (Baumeister Leiva-Leon, Sims) (brown), both in %. Soiurce: NY Fed via FRED, Weekly State Indexes.
WEI in particular is off a recent peak.
Trump needs to bring back David Stockman, so someone can tell the truth about his administration….none of them know what all those numbers mean…
witness from Bill McBride: Lawler: Treasury Secretary Wrongly Says Fed Has Been “Big Seller” of Treasuries – From housing economist Tom Lawler:
In an interview last week, Treasury Secretary Bessent said that any plans by the Treasury to extend the maturity were “a long ways off.” One of the reasons cited by Secretary Bessent was the Federal Reserve’s current balance sheet runoff policy. Here is a quote from Bessent. “The Fed’s balance sheet runoff increases the supply of Treasuries. It’s easier for me to extend duration when I’m not competing with another big seller.” This statement appears to reflect Bessent’s complete misunderstanding of how the Federal Reserve has implemented its balance sheet runoff.