US Publications
Below is a list of our US Publications for the last 5 months. If you are looking for reports older than 5 months please email info@pantheonmacro.com, or contact your account rep
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Weak underlying sales probably a sign of what's to come.
Probably overstating the labor market’s health.
- December’s soft retail sales point to a slowdown in growth in consumers’ spending in Q4.
- Meager income gains, subdued confidence and low saving imply spending growth will slow further in ‘26.
- Capex intentions remain extremely weak, despite the easing of Fed policy.
- We look for a 0.6% rise in December headline retail sales, underpinned by solid auto and control sales...
- That’s consistent with consumers’ spending rising by just over 3% in Q4...
- ...But soft income growth, depressed confidence and a rock-bottom saving rate point to weakness ahead.
- We look for a 0.2% increase in the headline CPI and a 0.3% rise in the core, despite residual seasonality.
- Web-scraped data point to slowing durable goods prices; Winter Storm Fern likely hit clothing prices.
- Increases in prices for streaming services, live events and rent likely were all much smaller than a year ago.
Too unreliable to be of much use.
- Openings fell in December to their lowest level since September 2020; AI is weighing more on hiring.
- Small business openings are falling, casting doubt over the upbeat payrolls signal from the NFIB survey.
- The quits rate still points to a further decline in wage growth this year; the Fed has room to ease further.
- Adobe’s Digital Price Index is uncorrelated with the official data; its January jump should be ignored.
- The US is too big an economy for the 2026 World Cup to have anything more than a trivial impact on GDP.
- We expect a small lift to consumers’ spending in the summer, but even that might be hard to see in the data.
- Truflation has been dragged down by new rents, mortgage interest and temporary food promotions...
- ...But these all will have a small or zero impact on the official measure of inflation in January.
- The manufacturing turnaround implied by the January ISM survey looks too good to be true.
- The most reliable surveys collectively signal a 75K rise in January payrolls, but we look for a 100K increase...
- ...Supported by milder-than-usual weather in early January and a partial recovery in retail payrolls.
- The Conference Board’s consumer survey, however, indicates the unemployment rate edged up to 4.5%.
Trade's contribution to Q4 GDP growth probably significant but not enormous.
- Keeping Mr. Trump, Senators and markets all on-side for three months will be no easy task for Mr. Warsh.
- If he is confirmed, the President might need to use Mr. Miran’s seat on the Board, resulting in no dovish shift.
- Mr. Warsh claims monetary policy alone determines inflation; he’s boxed in if it doesn’t fall this year.
- Tariff revenues will total $29B in January, $5B below October’s peak and $15B below official forecasts.
- More Canadian and Mexican goods than expected have become USMCA compliant, entering tariff-free.
- Solid inventories and plunging imports seem at odds; measurement issues likely are flattering GDP growth.
Spending slowdown and further labor market weakness are likely.
- Payrolls have slowed further since the FOMC last met and the best indicator of unemployment has jumped.
- Chair Powell was less categorical that the labor market is stabilizing than the statement.
- The Q3 surge in productivity is just a reversion to trend; AI has been only a marginal influence, so far.
- The Conference Board’s survey likely overstates the gloom, but confidence is down across most surveys.
- Consumers report the labor market is still worsening; they’re usually right.
- Winter Storm Fern will have little impact on Q1 GDP, but the lift to CPI energy prices will linger into Q2.
THE ECONOMY IS UNLIKELY TO ACCELERATE IN H1...
- ...PAYROLLS WILL STAY SLUGGISH; HOUSEHOLD SAVING RISE
- Industrial metals prices have an almost imperceptible impact on CPI core goods prices.
- Surging precious metals prices signal a 25% rise in jewelry prices, but just a 0.03pp lift to the core CPI.
- The slowdown in rents will dominate, likely subtracting 0.4pp from core CPI inflation by year-end.
Consumption strong through November, but on shaky foundations.
