5/16/2023 0 Comments Retail salesx 4th quarter 2017![]() ![]() The peak years of job creation in the current cycle were 2014 (3 million) and 2015 (2.7 million). The job market keeps chugging along, creating over 2.1 million new jobs in 2017, or 183,000 per month. While gains have been slow and steady, they have gone on now for a sustained period of time, one of the longest expansions on record, and as a result the unemployment rate has been pushed to a generational low of 4.1%. ![]() Since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), GDP has increased at a very modest 2.2% annual average, far below the growth typically seen following a recession and below the 3% long-term average since the early 1960s. The result for 2017 was impressive given the damage caused by severe hurricanes in the third quarter. GDP growth averaged 2.3% for the year, up from 1.5% in 2016. ![]() Is now the time to worry, as phrases like a market “melt-up” enter the popular lexicon? Enthusiasm for growth and risk-taking seem apparent. A historic revision to the tax code became law at the end of the year, which included a substantial corporate tax cut.Īfter perhaps jumping the gun in the first part of the year, then held back by frustration after not getting expected tax and regulatory changes enacted during the middle quarters, the “animal spirits” of the economy and the capital markets appear to have been unleashed once again. Stock markets then proceeded to hit a number of record highs as the year concluded, the job market continued to improve, unemployment reached a generational low in the U.S., and retail sales rose. Investor sentiment felt disconnected as the year unfolded the underlying global economy appeared to be steadily improving and capital markets reported robust results, while unease around geopolitics and the impact of multiple natural disasters stoked anxiety about the future.īy midyear, 2017 felt like the culmination of the unhappiest bull market we’d ever seen. economy closed out 2017 with decent momentum, recording a solid 2.6% gain in GDP in the fourth quarter after growth above 3% in each of the prior two quarters. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |