Bloomberg's Patrica Laya is out with a very good story on the current state of economic data in the US
If there's one article you should read today, it's this one from Bloomberg. It's a great summary of what's happening in US economic data.
What the US is seeing is great survey type data (soft data), that doesn't necessarily translate into the actual dollars and cents data (hard data). It's something we've pointed out on site numerous times and it's not exclusive to the US.
If you take something like consumer sentiment data, it's pretty much at record highs, or at least the highest since the crisis, yet we're not seeing the hard data like retail sales and durable goods match that sentiment. It's one thing to feel great at any particular time but another thing to open your wallet and splash the cash.
People were hit hard over the crisis so although they still might not be in the best of places, that place might still be better than 2 or 3 years ago. That means their mood is better even if their finances aren't.
The Fed can only do so much with sentiment data, the hope being that it does filter through into real actions. If that doesn't happen then they're going to start getting more cautious about the economy and that will lead to questioning the path of hikes. Sentiment often walks a fine line.
Anyway, have a read of the article as it's highlights some events to look out for this week, culminating in Friday's jobs report.
