Daily Rundown

April 24, 2026

Chart of the Day

Number of the Day

26.0 - The increase in the Kansas City Fed's prices paid index for manufacturing in April, the largest one-month change in the 25-year history of the series

Quote of the Day

"This year we have this fuel increase and we are going to do what's needed on capacity to make sure that we are passing on as much of that fuel increase to customers as possible." -  American Airlines CFO Devon May

Thursday's Highlights

Initial unemployment claims (week of 4/12) increased by 6,000 to 214,000.

The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index (April) slipped to 10.0 from a prior 11.0.

American Express network volume (Q1) rose by 10.6 percent year-over-year, the fastest pace in 12 quarters.

Quick Commentary

The economy has entered the second quarter with both healthy growth momentum and budding near-term inflationary pressures. That is unlikely to be enough to spur a pivot toward tighter policy from the Federal Reserve anytime soon, however, as chair nominee Kevin Warsh hinted in his confirmation hearing earlier this week that he still expects AI to be a disinflationary force and a driver of lower benchmark interest rates. This is an echo of Alan Greenspan's views on the impact of the internet in the 1990s and suggests that the bar for raising rates will be quite high even if the prevailing trends are sustained for a time. Note that even as the economy was booming, the federal funds target ended 1999 at exactly the same level as it stood at the end of 1995.

Today's Highlight

Consumer sentiment

Daily Trivia

As reflected in its name, what professional sports team was founded by a group of cannon-making blacksmiths?

(Thursday's Question: What category did the BEA add to its calculation of GDP in 2013, arguing that it should be treated as an investment given that it has defined ownership rights, is used repeatedly in production, and has a useful life longer than one year? Answer: Intellectual property)