For the week ended 3/2/26. Some interesting data points rolled in last week, so let’s skip the warm-up lap and get right to it. First and foremost, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) extended its interest-rate pause, but not without some unusually public disagreement. Several committee members are no longer casually hinting at future rate cuts – in fact, a growing minority now believes rate hikes may become more likely as we move deeper into 2026. That’s quite the backd

For the week ended 4/25/26. The best news from last week had nothing to do with markets – and everything to do with them. The Department of Justice dropped its criminal investigation into Jerome Powell, with U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro closing the inquiry and a federal judge noting there was “essentially zero evidence” of wrongdoing. Translation: a lot of noise, very little signal. So why bring this up in a market note? Because Fed independence isn’t some academic concept – i

For the week ended 4/18/26. One has to admit – it’s becoming increasingly difficult to talk about what’s driving the economy and markets when, over the past year or so, the answer has largely been… headlines out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. PMI data? Background noise. Retail sales? Afterthought. Consumer confidence? Barely gets an invite to the party. Nothing illustrates this better than GDP. Q4 growth has now been revised twice – from an already uninspiring 1.4% down to less

For the week ended 4/11/26. Welcome to the midpoint of April and just hours away from everyone’s favorite deadline: taxes. In the spirit of joy and government-mandated generosity, let me throw a bit of cold water on the festivities and turn to the latest inflation data. Consumer prices heated up in March, driven largely by a sharp jump in energy costs. The Labor Department reported that CPI rose 3.3% from a year earlier, a notable increase from February’s 2.4% and the hottest