Comments from Barkin:
- If we get a settlement on trade he does not expect much of an impact on the US economy
- Even in a prolonged tariff battle, the effects can be contained
- US retail sales numbers were not as good as was hoping to see but consumer fundamentals are 'pretty good'
- Today's manufacturing data consistent with slowdown they've been seeing
- US businesses are more cautious than hard data would suggest
The theme here is stubbornness or that the Fed isn't going to be easily pushed off its patient stance. However we've seen that time and time again, as soon as markets hit the panic button, the Fed abandons its data dependence.
