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According to chiefexecutive.net, optimism remains stubbornly low in America’s C-Suites (the group of senior executives in a company whose titles typically start with "Chief”).  Each month they conduct America’s largest monthly poll of CEOs.

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has become a bellwether for cultural trends among young Americans.  This year’s second weekend is getting started shortly, and the event may be morphing into an economic bellwether for this cohort as well.  Ticketing data is focusing the lens onto the realities of a K-shaped economy.  According to PaymentsJournal.com, approximate

In chess, success often depends on anticipating several moves ahead while adapting to changing circumstances.  Similarly, American businesses must balance short-term tactics with long-term strategies.  Not only are these firms competing with changing supply and demand, but policymakers can also rearrange the board, requiring businesses to change strategies at the drop of a hat (or tar

Since President Donald Trump announced new tariffs last Wednesday, global markets and economies have been in chaos.  As of this writing, the tariffs now include a blanket 10-percent duty on all trading partners and up to 145 percent for specific countries like China.  This has caused volatile moves in the markets.  U.S.

The hurricane center is sunny and calm, but the wall around it blows fiercely with its opposing sides tearing in opposite directions.

People like concrete explanations for phenomena.  For instance, virtually daily financial headlines are filled with reasons various markets behaved the way they did that day, up or down.  These explanations are more compelling to readers than something along the lines of  “buyers were more urgent than sellers today, so markets increased after the opposite was true yesterday

America's K-shaped economy continues to be a defining feature of our economic landscape in 2025, highlighting the stark contrast between the resilient upper echelons and the increasingly fragile lower segments of society.

Welcome to Pi Day 2025.  Atlas likes to think of it as a day to reflect on cycles, acknowledging the good and bad times implicit in them.  Pie comes to mind.  At the peak of the pie cycle is the first bite.  The wholesome sweetness has hit your tastebuds, yet most of the pie is still intact.  Then there’s the bottom of the cycle, that point when you realize you at

From time to time, Atlas will look at consumer attitude data.  Recently, the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment release caught our attention.  In particular, inflation expectations made a dramatic move higher.  Those surveyed in February 2025 believe inflation will climb 3.5 percent per year over the next five years.  This is up from 3.2 percent in January and

American households are navigating a complex credit landscape in early 2025 according to releases from the New York Federal Reserve.  Total household debt hit a record $18.04 trillion at the end of 2024, driven largely by credit card balances, which surged to $1.21 trillion.