Recession fears increased as the U.S. economy slowed significantly at the end of 2022. U.S. retail sales showed the biggest decline of the year in December, marking the second straight monthly decline — the first time monthly retail sales numbers had dropped for two months in a row since 2020. But the strongerthanexpected January jobs report showed the labor market is still running hot. And the latest CPI inflation report added to fears that prices are not slowing as quickly as the Federal Reserve would like.

We’ll dig into the latest retail sales numbers and explain what it tells us about the U.S. economy in 2023 and what investors and market watchers can expect.

0:00 Welcome
1:31 What the U.S. retail sales report showed
2:32 How the retail sales figure compared to expectations
3:09 Why retail sales were so much higher than expected
4:46 Why the big rise in retail sales may not be sustainable
7:01 How the retail sales report affects expectations for economic growth
7:52 Why the retail sales report changes the narrative for the stock market and bond market
12:12 The bad news for stocks and the economy we’ve been seeing lately
13:54 How asset markets reacted to the retail sales report
15:14 Why the latest leading economic indicators reports have been concerning
15:55 What to watch for next
17:09 Signoff

Market Takes is a strippeddown and straightup livestream where I'll cut through the noise and break down the week's most important market trends, reports and economic data. Tune in to understand what will be moving markets each week and why.

I’m Dion Rabouin, a WSJ reporter covering markets and the economy. I’ll be diving into all things finance, from the popular and wellknown — like crypto and stocks — to the complex and intricate — like leveraged loans, derivatives and private equity. Subscribe to join me as I take a deep dive into what’s making money move and why it matters.

#Inflation #Recession #DionRabouin