The Retail Sales report for August showed that spending on goods is moderating. While households are getting relief from lower prices at the gas pump, broader inflation looks like it is starting to impact discretionary spending.

There was little in the August CPI data to comfort investors. Instead, the reports increased the odds that the Federal Reserve will continue to raise rates quickly and keep them higher for longer.

The economy continued to add a healthy number of jobs in August. Though the unemployment rate increased, it was for a good reason: greater labor market participation.

This week, Portfolio Manager Mike Love and CIO David Allen discuss this morning's market-moving comments from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell. Then they breakdown the student loan forgiveness program announced this week. Finally, Mike and David look ahead to next week's Employment Situation report for August.

Concerns about a weakening economy hitting corporate profits proved to be overblown. However, analysts have begun marking down future estimates for earnings growth.

The President’s student loan relief plan will impact tens of millions of borrowers. While we estimate the cost of extending this relief will be significant, the impact on inflation should be mild.

This week, President Jeff Witt CFA, CFP, CIPM talks with CIO David Allen, CFA, CFP about the minutes of last month's FOMC meeting, the retail sales data for July and what it could mean for consumer spending in the third quarter, and the events coming up next week with the potential to move markets.

Nominal retail sales growth was flat in July mostly due to the ongoing decline in gasoline prices. Though, excluding gasoline, sales growth suggests the US consumer is showing signs of a rebound early in the third quarter from the weakness in the first half of the year.

Yesterday, President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act, a $700-billion bill that aims to address climate change, reduce health care costs, increase funding for the IRS, and reduce the federal deficit. For individual taxpayers, the bill includes several new tax credits designed to incentivize clean energy.

In this week's video, Dillon Hakes, CFP and David Allen CFA, CFP discuss Wednesday's Consumer Price Index data, what drove the slowdown in inflation in July, and how markets have reacted over the last few days. Then they turn their attention to the events coming up next week that could move markets.

The slowdown in inflation in July exceeded the consensus expectation and increased the chances that the Federal Reserve will slow its pace of interest rate increases at the next FOMC meeting in September.

In this week’s video, Lead Portfolio Manager Dillon Hakes, CFP and Chief Investment Officer David Allen, CFA, CFP discuss this morning's strong labor market report, how the report may impact the Federal Reserve's policy decision at its next meeting in September, and how the shift in interest rate expectations may affect the recent rally in US equity markets.

Headline nonfarm payrolls increased by 528,000, more than double the consensus estimate of 250,000, as employers continued to hire workers despite a slowdown in economic growth. This report suggests we are not currently in a recession and that the Fed will likely need to remain aggressive with monetary policy.

In this week's video, PAM's Lead Portfolio Manager Dillon Hakes, CFP, and CIO David Allen, CFA, CFP review what we think will prove to be the most consequential week for US financial markets this summer. Dillon and David discuss Wednesday's interest rate increase from the Federal Reserve, Thursday's first estimate of second-quarter US GDP growth, the big week of quarterly earnings reports, and more.

Of the 277 S&P 500 companies that have reported so far, roughly 60 percent have beat revenue forecasts and about 74 percent have bested earnings projections.

As was widely expected, the Federal Reserve voted unanimously yesterday to increase short-term interest rates by 75 basis points for the second consecutive meeting. We believe that markets initially interpreted some of Powell’s early comments as dovish, or at least as less hawkish than feared. However, we think this interpretation ignores the fairly hawkish comments made later in the press conference.

PAM has released the Research Department’s second quarter update to the Economic & Financial Market Outlook. You can review the full report here. Also, members of the Research Department have provided a video summary of their outlook.

Early in this earnings season, the majority of S&P 500 companies who have reported results have beat analyst expectations. Also, analysts have largely maintained their earnings outlooks for this year and next. This is a good start to this round of earnings reports as we look ahead to the reports from some of the largest tech companies in the S&P 500 next week.

Private Asset Management's Lead Portfolio Manager Dillon Hakes and Chief Investment Officer David Allen discuss the week that was in the US economy and financial markets. Dillon and David cover Friday's retail sales report and the Consumer Price Index data released earlier in the week. Then they touch on the highlights from the firm's quarterly outlook meeting held this week.

The Consumer Price Index grew more than expected in June due mostly to higher food and energy prices. Though we expect to see a reversal this summer, this report likely means that the Federal Reserve will continue to quickly tighten monetary policy later this month.