The May 2017 Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Survey

The May 2017 Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Survey was published on May 11, 2017.  The headline is “Economists Say President Donald Trump's Agenda Would Boost Growth - a Little.”

I found numerous items to be notable – although I don’t necessarily agree with them – both within the article and in the “Economist Q&A” section.

An excerpt:

Early on, White House officials have reportedly considered penciling in growth rates as high as 3.2% a year. But the respondents to the Journal’s survey—a mix of academic, financial and business economists who regularly produce professional forecasts—say numbers so high will be hard to attain, because the policies under consideration just might not pack that punch.

As seen in the “Recession Probability” section, the average response as to the odds of another recession starting within the next 12 months was 15.27%. The individual estimates, of those who responded, ranged from 0% to 33%.  For reference, the average response in April’s survey was 15.79%.

As stated in the article, the survey’s respondents were 59 academic, financial and business economists.  Not every economist answered every question.  The survey occurred on May 5, 2017 to May 9, 2017.

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The current average forecasts among economists polled include the following:

GDP:

full-year 2017:  2.2%

full-year 2018:  2.5%

full-year 2019:  2.1%

Unemployment Rate:

December 2017: 4.4%

December 2018: 4.2%

December 2019: 4.4%

10-Year Treasury Yield:

December 2017: 2.79%

December 2018: 3.29%

December 2019: 3.59%

CPI:

December 2017:  2.2%

December 2018:  2.4%

December 2019:  2.3%

Crude Oil  ($ per bbl):

for 12/31/2017: $51.66

for 12/31/2018: $54.52

(note: I highlight this WSJ Economic Forecast survey each month; commentary on past surveys can be found under the “Economic Forecasts” category)

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I post various economic forecasts because I believe they should be carefully monitored.  However, as those familiar with this site are aware, I do not necessarily agree with many of the consensus estimates and much of the commentary in these forecast surveys.

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The Special Note summarizes my overall thoughts about our economic situation

SPX at 2391.07 as post is written