Long-suffering readers will be aware of our low opinion here at Notes of government economic statistics. The truth of the matter is that many of them are fudged. Don’t just take our word for it. According to Kevin Philips, former Republican Party strategist and author of Bad Money, “Ever since the 1960s, Washington has gulled its citizens and creditors by debasing official statistics, the vital instruments with which the muscle and vitality of the American economy are measured.”

The chances of the US entering a recession are receding, thanks to the Fed’s slashing of interest rates and injection of capital into the markets, according to San Francisco Fed President Janet Yellen. This from MarketWatch:

Although not so clearly explained by the central bank, Fed officials undertook these unprecedented steps in some measure to ward off what they like to call an “adverse feedback loop.”