Soft data is becoming stressed to a degree that has previously prompted the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, which will benefit the stock market if the size and timing of easing is enough to stave off a worsening in the hard data and a recession.
The wait might soon be over for Donald Trump. The president has been agitating for the Fed to cut rates throughout his time in office, with Chair Jay Powell refusing to cave in. But the central bank now has cover to oblige, due to an increase in the stress of soft, ie survey and market-based, data that has historically elicited an easing response.
