The Federal Reserve received some positive news on the inflation front. After the February Consumer Price Index (CPI) came in cooler than expected, the Labor Department’s companion report on producer prices showed an even sharper decline in the pace of price growth at the wholesale level. Of note, the Producer Price Index (PPI) was unchanged last month after climbing 0.4% in January. Likewise, the core PPI, which excludes the energy and food components, was up...

The nation added 151,000 jobs in February. That figure was modestly below the consensus forecast of 160,000, but relatively in line with the 12-month average of 168,000. It was accompanied by a slight uptick in the unemployment rate, to 4.1%, last month. In all, the report suggested that the labor market is still quite balanced. The February Consumer Price Index (CPI) report showed a modest easing in the pace of price growth. Specifically, both the...

The Trump Administration’s tariff policies have been unsettling for Wall Street, with the stock market selling off on each announcement by the President. As we went to press, tariffs on selective goods coming from Canada and Mexico, which had been delayed for a month while the nations attempted to negotiate new trade and immigration deals, were implemented. In addition to the tariffs on our North American neighbors, a series of reciprocal tariffs against several nations...