I'm Nicole Lapin, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand.

It's time for somebody to read.

Okay, it is time to do a vibe check of the economy because it has been all over the

place.

I mean, a month ago, banks were collapsing and people were seriously concerned that it

would trigger a massive global recession.

But the Dow, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 indexes are actually all up year to date.

So, year to date since January, even Bitcoin is up.

The economy, of course, is more than just the stock market.

So, let's take a quick peek at inflation, the jobs market, and the general vibe of the economy.

So, first up, inflation.

A week or so after SVB collapsed, the Fed met, and there was a lot of speculation that

the Fed chair, J-POW, would hold off on raising rates again in the face of a very scary economic

moment.

The argument at the time was that the fear created by the bank collapse would have deflationary

impacts all of its own.

But J-POW went hard and raised rates again.

The March CPI numbers are dropping.

The very same day I'm putting out this podcast, so I can't tell you exactly what they'll

be, but we do have numbers from February, and they were exactly as expected.

Inflation is still increasing, but at a slower rate, which made everyone feel a little more

comfortable about the whole situation.

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