FED PREPARES WHAT MAY BE THE KINDEST CUT OF ALL, UNLESS IT ISN’T

The American economy grew at better than a three  per cent annualized rate in the fourth quarter of last year. Early reports that retail sales had declined in January were revised to show an increase. Unemployment is at 3.9 per cent, below the pre-pandemic rate, while various measures of workers’ real earnings (inflation-adjusted) are recovering from th…