The April 2023 Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Survey

The April 2023 Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Survey was published on April 16, 2023. The headline is “Economists Turn More Pessimistic on Inflation.”

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:

The economy is proving more resilient and inflation more stubborn than economists expected a few months ago, and as a result the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates high for longer, according to The Wall Street Journal’s latest survey of economists.

As 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 61%. The individual estimates, of those who responded, ranged from 1% to 100%.  For reference, the average response in January’s survey [the previously published survey] was 61%.

As stated in the article, the survey’s 62 respondents were academic, financial and business economists.  The survey was conducted April 7 – April 11. 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 2023:  .45%

full-year 2024:  1.61%

full-year 2025:  2.20%

Unemployment Rate:

December 2023: 4.30%

December 2024: 4.51%

December 2025: 4.25%

10-Year Treasury Yield:

December 2023: 3.42%

December 2024: 3.29%

December 2025: 3.28%

CPI:

December 2023:  3.53%

December 2024:  2.47%

December 2025:  2.27%

Core PCE:

full-year 2023:  3.59%

full-year 2024:  2.46%

full-year 2025:  2.19%

(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 4133.17 as this post is written