While President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy proved to be a stubborn point of tension with consumers in 2023, year’s end brought reason for optimism moving forward.
Ideally, voters would really start to feel the positive impacts of falling prices, record-high stock surges, and continued job/wage gains by late spring/early summer. That’s right around the time voters’ views of the upcoming presidential contest start to take shape.
1) Prices fell in November for the first time since 2020
This comes according to The Wall Street Journal. At the same time, spending and personal income rose.
But perhaps most importantly, core inflation eased to 1.9% on a six-month annualized basis—a sweet spot for the Fed.
“It’s hard to see any credible reason why the annual inflation rate won’t also return to the 2% target over the coming months,” Andrew Hunter, deputy chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, told the Journal.
2) The stock market and 401(k)s are surging
The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record high in mid-December, surging past 37,000. And the good news continued in the run-up to Christmas. On Friday, the AP captured the sunny outlook:
Wall Street is drifting near record heights Friday following reports showing inflation on the way down and the economy potentially on the way up.
The S&P 500 was 0.3% higher in midday trading and just 0.7% below its record set nearly two years ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 38 points, or 0.1%, as of 11:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher.
3) U.S. consumer sentiment is (finally) improving
The University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers showed consumer sentiment surging 14% in December, “reversing all declines from the previous four months.” Say there, not bad—not bad at all.
4) This is just the worst ‘recession’ ever
5) The news is so good that Donald Trump is already trying to rewrite history
Trump, October 2020: “If he’s elected, the stock market will crash.”
Trump, November 2023: “Whatever good they have right now is the fumes of what we left them.” LOL.
Kerry Eleveld
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