Economic wrap: Atlanta Fed forecast slips - Westpac

Analysts at Westpac explained an Economic Wrap with Fed speakers and Atlanta Fed's forecast update.

US wholesale trade sales fell 0.4% in July (vs +0.2% expected), and inventories were flat (vs +0.1% expected). Following this update, the Atlanta Fed’s model forecast for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in Q3 2016 slipped to 3.3% from 3.5% the previous week.

Fedspeak came from Rosengren, who reiterated the case for gradual tightening, Kaplan, who stressed patience, and Tarullo, who looked for more evidence of growth and inflation.

Economic Event Risks Today

There’s no major data to ruffle markets today, but Fed speakers Brainard, Lockhart and Kashkari will be closely followed for the last Fed speeches ahead of the 21 Sep FOMC meeting.