AFP EconWatch: March 18, 2013

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• This Week in Corporate Finance: Lukewarm Outlook?This was another week where the equity markets touched new or multi-year highs, the bond market sold off a bit, and the economic outlook is lukewarm at best. Time will tell if we have finally moved to a period of determining how fast the U.S. economy is growing, rather than asking: is the U.S. economy growing?
• AFP EconWatch: Producer Prices Decline A sharp drop in the price of energy goods led to the first decline in producer prices in three months during March.
• AFP EconWatch: U.S. Economy StumblesThe U.S. economy created fewer jobs in March than it had in any previous month since last summer. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that non-farm payrolls expanded by a seasonally adjusted 88,000 workers last month, the first time the economy failed to create at least 100,000 jobs since it added 87,000 workers last June.
  
• This Week in Corporate Finance: U.S. Payrolls Weaker than ExpectedThe see-saw which is the U.S. economy continued again last week as a weaker-than-expected payrolls report put a bit of a damper on the recent positive narrative we had been witnessing. Concerns about the economy not being as robust as previously thought caused money to move in a classic “risk-off” trade and U.S. Treasury securities were the beneficiaries at the expense of the equity market.
• EconWatch: Consumer Spending IncreasesConsumers appear to have brushed off concerns about federal budget spending cuts, at least for now, if their spending behavior is any indication.