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The Federal Reserve finds itself in a difficult policy environment. At its April 2026 meeting, the FOMC voted to hold the benchmark federal funds rate in a range of 3.5% to 3.75%, as policymakers grappled with persistent inflation and an unusually divided committee. The inflation problem has been significantly compounded

Please find the next blog in our monthly series that provides a snapshot of the markets and the state of the economy. Economic Overview Market Returns Asset Class Valuations – Rebalancing Rationale Key Risk Factors We Are Watching Disclaimers: The views expressed herein are those of Asset Consulting Group (ACG).

Building permits came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,442,000 in April 2026, rebounding 5.8 percent from a soft March reading of 1,363,000 but landing essentially flat on a year-over-year basis, just 0.2 percent below April 2025. Single-family authorizations declined 2.6 percent from March to 872,000, while multifamily

Artificial intelligence has quickly become part of everyday life. It recommends what we watch, helps draft emails, detects fraud, and increasingly influences financial decisions. As AI continues to evolve, many investors are beginning to ask an important question: can technology replace the role of a financial advisor? Technology is already

The latest data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York puts total U.S. household debt at $18.8 trillion as of Q1 2026, up just 0.1% from the prior quarter. Credit card balances declined by $25 billion to $1.25 trillion, a move consistent with the seasonal pullback that typically follows

Oil Is Piling Up With Nowhere to Go Five weeks after the ceasefire was announced, the Strait of Hormuz still has not fully reopened, and oil is piling up across the Persian Gulf. Saudi Aramco’s CEO said this week that around 600 ships sit trapped inside the Gulf with another

Mortgage applications are often overlooked in favor of more widely followed indicators, but they provide an important early signal about the direction of the US economy. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that total mortgage application volume has risen roughly 6% year over year in recent weeks, with purchase applications up

The latest existing home sales data paints a picture of a housing market that is steady but still working through several challenges. According to the National Association of Realtors, existing home sales in April 2026 rose just 0.2% from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02

The April 2026 jobs report offered a reassuring signal that the U.S. labor market continues to hold up better than many expected, even as economic uncertainty builds. Employers added 115,000 jobs during the month, well above expectations that hovered between 55,000 and 65,000. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate held steady at

The April ISM reports confirm that the U.S. economy remains in expansion, though increasingly on borrowed momentum. Both manufacturing and services continue to grow, yet the composition of that growth is shifting in ways that matter for investors: input costs are reaccelerating sharply, forward-looking demand indicators are softening, and two