Thursday, Jan. 4, 2018
2017 was great for stocks and hiring. Will this economic rise continue in 2018? What effect will we see from the new tax cuts? Mike Collins asks economists to dust off their crystal balls.
The new year was rung in with optimistic outlooks for the US economy, coming off a year that saw records on Wall Street.
The jobless rate fell to a 17-year low as 2017 closed out and is anticipated to continue falling, and overall economic growth indicators are positive.
Things are at a point where Wells Fargo’s Mark Vitner believes, a decade after the the start of the Great Recession, “we’re finally putting the financial crisis behind us.”
What are economists looking for as 2018 begins? Topping that list: the newly-passed tax cuts and whether it will deliver the promised economic boost.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Michelle Meyer, who is skeptical of the long-term prospects of growth from the tax cuts, says inflation will be “the big story of 2018” as wages continue to be held back despite strong job acceleration.
GUESTS
Michelle Meyer, senior U.S. economist, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Mark Vitner, senior economist, Wells Fargo