Inflation

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

Last week Atlas sent a note called How Did We Get Here?

In recent years, America has experienced higher inflation than we've seen in a long time.

On Wednesday, America’s central bank made its first downward adjustment to its Federal Funds Rate since the pandemic was just getting started back in March 2020.  This interest rate is what banks charge each other for overnight loans when their cash reserves aren’t adequate to meet weekly regulatory requirements.  While it does not impact other rates directly, the Fed Fund

As the Fourth of July approached, America’s sky prepared to display vividly colored fireworks in rhythmic fashion, a spectacle that reminds one of the ebbs and flows of our economy.  Just as fireworks launch into the night, so too does our economic activity, bursting with energy and brightness during periods of prosperity.

Shrink is an interesting word.  For a simple, monosyllabic word, it has many meanings.  More and more, it is used frequently in the fields of economics and finance.

Many resources are thrown at solving the last-mile problem.  Logistics firms spend countless dollars trying to optimize the final phase of a delivery.  The same challenge haunts public transportation in many metropolitan cities.  Once a rider exits the train or bus, how do they efficiently get to their end destination?  Global Positioning System (GPS) technology has helped b

For not fully understood reasons, conditions for the Big Bang were met about 13.8 billion years ago.  This unfathomable event set off a series of reactions.  Evidence of the reaction’s aftermath is observable even today.  For instance, according to NASA, we can still see the heat that was there roughly 380,000 years after the expansion of the universe (13.42 billion years a

The world is just a few days removed from the 2024 solar eclipse, and some have already booked their flights and places to stay for the next one.  It will happen on August 12, 2026 and will be visible in Greenland, western Iceland, and northern Spain.  Happening in August, the event is more than two years away, yet we know when it will occur because of math.

There are endless choices of kids’ entertainment these days, so Atlas will opt for a more timeless cartoon to illustrate the point we’re trying to make: Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.  It’s all about the chase.  Unfortunately for Mr. Coyote, it happens to come with many missteps, often leading to a cascading outcome.