PHILADELPHIA—Nationally syndicated host and biblical investing authority Dan Celia discusses the economic data coming out this week.
“As we come off a losing week in the markets, the Federal Reserve chairman will be making some announcements. Jerome Powell is holding his press conference on Wednesday. That is something that’s going to be looked at very, very closely—lots of wordsmithing going on, checking each and every word that he says for any indication that the economy could be overheating, that inflation could be rising, that there could be a tweak or a change of plans in quantitative easing or raising interest rates. Quantitative easing, frankly, can’t stop because government spending is out of control. Somebody’s got to buy that debt, and I suspect that it’s going to be the Federal Reserve.
“We have the first look at the GDP for the first quarter. Right now, we’re sitting at 4.3 percent. They’re hoping for 6.5 percent. That’s a pretty likely number as we are still playing catch up from a year off of GDP growth.
“On Friday we get personal income numbers and consumer spending. Now look, personal income numbers must go up because of the stimulus checks. Is it going to go up 20 percent? Some think it will. We’ll see. Consumer spending is going to go down. So, if personal income goes up the 19% that they expect and consumer spending is down, the savings rate is going to be off the charts good–but not good for the economy. Then the consumer sentiment index number comes out. That’s probably going to be relatively flat, maybe up a touch. There’s lots of economic data coming out this week. It might give us some good indications of how the second quarter is going to look. And of course, we are getting into the heart of earnings season.”
Dan Celia discusses these and other global and economic headlines on his daily, three-hour “Financial Issues” program, heard on more than 660 radio stations and several television networks nationwide, including FISM.TV, viewed on several post-cable television platforms and online.
Read more about Celia, FISM and “Financial Issues” or visit the FISM website, its Facebook page, on YouTube at Financial Issues with Dan Celia or on Twitter @financialissues; download the FISM app here.
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