The September 2017 Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Survey – Notable Aspects

The September 2017 Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Survey was published on September 7, 2017.  The headline is “WSJ Survey:  Economists Expect Next Fed Rate Increase in December.”

I found numerous items to be notable – although I don’t necessarily agree with them – both within the article and in the “Economist Q&A” section.

An excerpt:

Most economists in the latest Wall Street Journal survey expected the Federal Reserve would next raise short-term interest rates in December, and most said Janet Yellen should get a second term as the central bank’s chairwoman.

Almost three quarters of the business and academic economists surveyed in the latest poll said President Donald Trump should nominate Ms. Yellen to stay on after her current term expires in early February. Several economists said that keeping her on the job would provide continuity and reassure markets during uncertain times.

As seen in the “Recession Probability” section, the average response as to the odds of another recession starting within the next 12 months was 16.08%. The individual estimates, of those who responded, ranged from 0% to 35%.  For reference, the average response in August’s survey was 15.00%.

As stated in the article, the survey’s respondents were 56 academic, financial and business economists.  Not every economist answered every question.  The survey was conducted September 1-5.

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The current average forecasts among economists polled include the following:

GDP:

full-year 2017:  2.3%

full-year 2018:  2.4%

full-year 2019:  2.0%

Unemployment Rate:

December 2017: 4.3%

December 2018: 4.1%

December 2019: 4.2%

10-Year Treasury Yield:

December 2017: 2.49%

December 2018: 3.02%

December 2019: 3.28%

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Please Note – The above is excerpted from the EconomicGreenfield.com (published by RevSD, LLC) post of September 8, 2017, titled “The September 2017 Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Survey”

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RevSD, LLC offers the above commentary for informational purposes only, and does not necessarily agree with the views expressed by these outside parties.

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RevSD, LLC is a management consulting firm and strategic advisory that focuses on the analysis of current and future weak(ening) economic conditions, and offers businesses and other entities advice, strategies, and actionable methods on how to optimally adapt to such challenging, complex conditions.