The July 2022 Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Survey

The July 2022 Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Survey was published on July 17, 2022. The headline is “As Fed Tightens, Economists Worry It Will Go Too Far.”

I found numerous items to be notable – although I don’t necessarily agree with them – both within the article and in the forecasts section.

An excerpt:

Economists increasingly expect the Federal Reserve, in its efforts to push down inflation, to raise rates enough to trigger a recession, with many worrying the central bank will go too far.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal now put the chance of a recession sometime in the next 12 months at 49% in July, on average, up from 44% a month ago and just 18% in January.

Some 46% of economists said they expect the Fed to raise interest rates excessively and cause unnecessary economic weakness. Slightly fewer, 42%, said they anticipated the Fed increasing rates about the right amount to balance inflation and growth. Around 12.3% thought it would raise rates too little.

As noted above, and also seen in the “Recession Probability” section, the average response as to whether the economy will be in a recession within the next 12 months was 49%. The individual estimates, of those who responded, ranged from 1% to 99%.  For reference, the average response in June’s survey [the previously published survey] was 44%.

As stated in the article, the survey’s 62 respondents were academic, financial and business economists.  The survey was conducted July 8 – July 12. Not every economist answered every question.

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Economic Forecasts

The current average forecasts among economists polled include the following:

GDP:

full-year 2022:  .71%

full-year 2023:  1.14%

full-year 2024:  2.05%

Unemployment Rate:

December 2022: 3.76%

December 2023: 4.28%

December 2024: 4.35%

10-Year Treasury Yield:

December 2022: 3.32%

December 2023: 3.22%

December 2024: 3.17%

CPI:

December 2022:  6.85%

December 2023:  2.93%

December 2024:  2.31%

Core PCE:

full-year 2022:  4.47%

full-year 2023:  2.93%

full-year 2024:  2.32%

(note: I have highlighted this WSJ Economic Forecast survey each time it is published; it was published monthly until April 2021, after which the survey is conducted (at least) every three months; commentary on past surveys can be found under the “Economic Forecasts” label)

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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 3863.16 as this post is written