Economic Indicators Turn from Confusing to Ominous

Economic Indicators Turn from Confusing to Ominous: Federal Reserve (Fed) chairman Jerome Powell’s Wednesday announcement that the central bank might start lowering interest rates in September sets the stage for a potential reversal of the longstanding pattern of inconsistent and contradictory indicators from the economy.

Unfortunately, that change may not be for the better, with a conservative September interest rate cut of 0.25 percent being too small and arriving too late to do much good.