THE DAILY EDGE (20 March 2018)

Confused? You Should Be, and the Fed Too The Federal Reserve could be mistaken in two ways. The economy might be less strong than central bankers think, or it might be strong but create less inflation. Evidence for both views has been coming through this month.

• Yellen Says Gradual Fed Rate Hikes Are Needed to Prevent Overheating

(…) “I think the Fed should and has been gradually raising rates to try to stabilize the labor market, to bring down the pace of job growth to a sustainable level to avoid the economy overheating,” Yellen said Monday in Philadelphia. (…)

Meanwhile,

The GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the first quarter of 2018 is 1.8 percent on March 16.

(Haver Analytics)

(Gary Shilling’s Insight)

No more Fed put?

Jerome Powell in January 2017:

(…) if risk taking does not threaten financial stability, it is not the Fed’s job to stop people from losing (or making) money.

China’s premier hopes trade war can be averted, pledges more open economy Voicing hopes that Beijing and the United States could avoid a trade war, Premier Li Keqiang told the close of the annual parliament session that China would open its economy further, so that foreign and Chinese firms can compete on an equal footing.

(…) “China’s aim is to ensure that both domestic and foreign firms, and companies under all kinds of ownership structure, will be able to compete on fair terms in China’s large market.” (…)

Li said that as China widens access to its markets, there will be no forced transfers of technology, and China will better protect intellectual property rights. (…)

[President Xi] reiterated increasing global concerns over China’s rise were unjustified and added: “Only those who are in the habit of threatening others will see everyone else as a threat.” (…)

Europe Is Only Halfway To Healthier Banks 

Here’s What Wall Street Analysts Are Saying About Facebook’s Data Scandal

(…) when it comes to digital advertising, Facebook and Alphabet Inc.’s Google have a lock on the market. Together, the two companies accounted for 58.5 percent of the U.S. market in 2017, according to EMarketer. (…)