From Cleveland Fed President Sandra Pianalto: When the Small Stuff Is Anything But Small . A few excerpts: You know we have been through one of the most severe and longest recessions in our nation’s history. The recovery from the … Read More

From San Francisco Fed President Janet Yellen: The Outlook for the Economy and Monetary Policy . Excerpts: … I’m not at all convinced that a V-shaped recovery is in the cards. That fourth-quarter leap in GDP overstates the underlying momentum … Read More

Note: This is a composite index based on a number of economic releases. From the Chicago Fed: Index shows economic activity increased sharply in January The Chicago Fed National Activity Index was +0.02 in January, up from –0.58 in December. … Read More

The MBA reports 14.05 percent of mortgage loans were either one payment delinquent or in the foreclosure process in Q4 2009. This is a slight decrease from 14.11% (edit) in Q3 2009, and an increase from 13.5% in Q2 2009 … Read More

First, Alanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart commented on the increase in the discount rate: How should today’s announcement be interpreted? I would not interpret this action as a tightening of monetary policy or even a sign that a tightening is … Read More

From Bloomberg: Fed’s Bullard Says Asset-Purchase Adjustments Main Policy Issue (ht MrM) [St. Louis Fed President] James Bullard said the main challenge for U.S. policy makers will be to adjust the asset-purchase program … The Fed should retain flexibility by … Read More

Note: Here is a weekly summary and look ahead . Evelyn Nieves at HuffingtonPost has an update on Stockton, CA: Stockton, California Is Foreclosureville, USA, Has One Of The Worst Foreclosure Rates In The United Sates . A short excerpt: … Read More

Note: Here is a weekly summary and look ahead . The Hartford Courant quoted Boston Fed President Eric S. Rosengren as saying he expects mortgage rates to rise 50 to 75 bps when the Fed MBS purchase program ends. And … Read More

From Fed Governor Elizabeth Duke: The Economic Outlook In my view, the outlook for economic activity depends importantly on our ability to build on the progress to date in improving the operation of financial markets and restoring the flow of … Read More

Through November construction spending has followed the expected script for 2009: a likely bottom for residential construction spending, and a collapse in private non-residential construction. Residential construction spending was off slightly in November, and is now only 5.8% above the … Read More