Weekly Market Commentary 02/19/2016

There are still many questions about the health of the economy that will remain unanswered until more data become available. But the recent batch of data, including this week’s, should at least allay recession fears, which gained a modest amount of traction at the start of the year. Rather than going to ‘hell in a hell-basket,’ the economy’s near term outlook appears to be getting brighter. To be sure, we are not talking about the elusive breakout that has been conspicuously absent since the Great Recession ended more than 6.5 years ago. The economy’s growth engine is missing some cylinders and continues to run below its potential.