The Financial Futurist Newsletter — Issue #6

This Weekly LinkedIn newsletter from Jason Schenker includes original research from The Futurist Institute and Prestige Economics to help prepare leaders for the future — this week and beyond!

1. The Future of the Economy

There will be a few critical developments this week for the economy.

Three of the top items include —

• The release of February Retail Sales.
• A Fed decision, statement, and Dotplot.
• Weekly jobless claims, which most recently showed over 20.1 million Americans were unemployed as of the week ending 20 February 2021.

The most important data release this week that will have growth implications for Q1 2021 GDP is February 2021 U.S. Retail Sales, because ~70% of U.S. GDP is consumption.

To learn more about why Retail Sales are so important for the economy, check out this LinkedIn Learning video:

2. The Future of Work and Leadership

To be successful, we have to embrace the future of work. Adapting to the technological and leadership requirements ahead will be critical for success.

Leadership visibility is an important part of adapting for career advancement, and it will be even more important as a part of the future of work.

To learn more about why leadership visibility is important for the future of work, check out this LinkedIn Learning video:

3. The Future of Fed Policy

The Fed is meeting this week to set interest rate and balance sheet policies.

Leaders need to have a strategic approach to Fed decisions.

Why?

Because Fed policies are critical for interest rates, business, and the economy.

To learn more about why Fed decisions are important, check out this LinkedIn Learning video:

4. The Future of Interest Rates and the Dotplot

The Fed does more than just set current interest rates. The Fed also publishes its own forecasts for future interest rates once per quarter.

In fact, just by sharing its own member forecasts of future interest rates, the Fed impacts markets.

These FOMC member forecasts are shown in tables and they are shared graphically in something called the Dotplot.

To learn more about why Fed decisions and the Dotplot are important, check out this LinkedIn Learning video:

5. The Future of Housing

Some of the most important leading indicators for the housing market and real estate will be released in the week ahead.

At the top of ths list is Housing Starts, which have been strong in recent months.

To learn more about Housing Starts, check out this LinkedIn Learning video:

6. The Future of Government Spending

Last week, a U.S. bill was passed and signed into law committing $1.9 trillion in government spending for COVID recovery.

Despite some discussion of objections about this spending bill, a Pew Research survey reports that 78% — a "sizable majority" — of Americans support this spending.

But what is the impact of government spending on the economy?

With a lot of these funds likely to be financed by deficit spending, what will the consequences be in the long run?

To learn more about Government Spending, check out this LinkedIn Learning video:

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Jason Schenker

Chairman of The Futurist Institute and President of Prestige Economics.