The longer-term up-trend in the index is intact. Inventories are extremely lean, global growth is firming and there are mounting unfilled orders.
From the tone of his testimony today, it's obvious he sees a pretty strong economy.
Today's sharp decline in jobless claims is great news.
Right now, we're seeing upward momentum in long-term rates, especially with new inflation worries. Long-term rates have been so low for so long compared to where they'd normally be in the business cycle -- at some point a correction is necessary.
The trend is still for healthy productivity growth between 2% and 2.5%, and unit labor costs are expected to only slowly rise over the coming year.
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