Yesterday’s news on housing starts wasn’t great, but neither was it bad. Perhaps we might label it a mildly positive yawn. More of the same is coming, we predict, in a range of economic indicators.
It’s fun to forecast extremes. It makes the headlines; people pay attention when you scream the world is coming to an end, or that the next great bull market will commence on Friday at 2:39 p.m. But projecting middling results rarely taps the zeitgeist du jour. Popular or not, that’s the future we see coming for some period in the U.S. Oh, sure, there will be volatility, surprises here and there, and even some mayhem in the economy and the capital markets at times. But for the most part, the future looks rather boring, at least compared with what’s passed over past 12 to 18 months.