Weekly Market Commentary 04/15/2016

Remember that first-quarter rebound most economists were expecting early this year? Even then, some cynics were saying that such a prospect would be no more than a “dead cat” bounce. We will be getting the first estimate of how the economy performed during the just-concluded period later this month. But if the data collected so far is any indication, the cynics will be right on the mark. By all accounts, the economy is on track to post a growth rate of under 1% during the January-March period. Far from a rebound, that performance would be even worse than last year’s fourth quarter, when growth came in at a tepid 1.4%.