Economic Insights – March 2018

First Quarter 2018 GDP estimates from the Atlanta Fed GDPNow models are running about 3.0 percent as of this writing. And that’s a big down-shift from the 5 percent real annualized growth rate GDPNow forecast in early February.

Nevertheless, the expansion still looks strong.

At the end of February, the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index rose to 130.8, up from 124.3 in January. Consumers don’t seem to be bothered by stock market volatility that rose in m.....