Explainer
Economy
Understand the American economy through the data and institutions that shape it — inflation, jobs, economic growth, interest rates, the Federal Reserve, consumers, and the releases those judgements are built on.
The Fed announces a target, not a decree. Getting the market to that target is a separate operation, and it has changed a great deal since 2008.
Explainer
Reading an Inflation Report Without Being Misled by It
Headline, core, monthly, annualised — the same release supports several different stories. Knowing which measure answers which question is most of the skill.
Explainer
What the Jobs Report Measures, and Why Its Two Surveys Disagree
The monthly employment release contains two separate surveys that routinely tell different stories. Neither is wrong; they count different things.
