Posted 2/19/2024, 9:00:58 AM
Economic Data Clouds Prospect of Soft Landing as Growth Slows, Inflation Persists
- Recent economic data challenges narrative of a "soft landing" where inflation falls without severe downturn
- January inflation and retail sales reports came in worse than expected
- Data is causing economists to lower GDP growth forecasts for Q1
- Projections for January core PCE inflation now near 0.4%, bringing it back above Fed 2% target
- Still too early to draw conclusions on economic trajectory based on one month of noisy data
