Economists Raising Expectations for U.S. Economy

New York, NY, April 17, 2024-"The Wall Street Journal’s latest quarterly survey of business and academic economists shows forecasters ratcheting up their expectations for economic growth, inflation and the level of future interest rates.

“Most economists thought that the Fed’s aggressive campaign to raise interest rates would do far more to slow the economy than it has.

“Growth has outperformed expectations, based on a combination of government spending, increased immigration and resilient consumer demand. Workers are feeling confident enough about their jobs to keep up their shopping habits. Now economists generally don’t think the economy will get anywhere close to a recession over the next year.

“Job gains have also far exceeded forecasts, possibly owing in part to an immigration-fueled increase in population. Economists still expect a slowdown to come imminently, if only because businesses have exhausted the pool of available workers.

“In recent years, neither economists nor investors have seriously doubted that the Fed would succeed in bringing inflation down to its 2% target. The question has been what it would take to get there.

“Economists, however, modestly increased their 2024 inflation forecasts, even before the latest round of hotter-than-expected price data.”