Economic Forecast Luncheon tickets and sponsorships are available now

Sponsorships and tickets are now available for the Chamber's annual Economic Forecast Luncheon.

This lunch is set for April 25 from 11am until 1pm at the Lowcountry Conference Center. Steve Slifer is the keynote speaker.

Registration begins at 11am and the formal program begins at 11:30am.

Lowcountry Conference Center is located at 406 Sigma Drive in Summerville.

Get your tickets here.

"The economy still has legs. Contrary to popular belief it is not ready to roll over quite yet.

Many people expect the inflation rate to fall quickly," Slifer told the Chamber. "They might need to rethink that conclusion.

The Fed’s job is not over. We are on the road to a 6.0% funds rate."

As for where we are right now, Slifer explained the larger situation like this:

In mid-February the retail sales data for January jumped 3.0% following declines of 1.1% in both November and December. Previously the view had been that the economy was slowing rapidly because the consumer was running out of gas. The subsequent release of the personal consumption expenditures data for January – which include spending on both goods and services -- revealed a blockbuster increase of 1.8%. That began the mad scramble amongst economists to revise upwards their first quarter GDP estimates from 0.5% or so initially to 2.0-2.5%. With GDP growth of 3.2% in the third quarter, 2.7% growth in the fourth, and 2.0% in the first quarter, the idea that economic activity was slowing quickly enough to allow the Fed to take its foot off the brake completely disappeared.

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About Steve Slifer

From 1980 until his retirement in 2003, Mr. Slifer was the Chief U.S. Economist for Lehman Brothers in New York City. In that role he directed the firm’s U.S. economics group and was responsible for the firm’s forecasts and analysis of the U.S. economy.

Prior to that he spent a decade as a senior economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C., forecasting growth in the money supply.

He has written two books about the various economic indicators and how they can be used to forecast economic activity. He also writes a regular bi-weekly economics column for the Charleston Regional Business Journal.

Mr. Slifer has been widely quoted in press and on television, was voted the top economist by Institutional Investor magazine five years in a row and in 1997 was named as one of the top 100 “Faces to Watch in the Next Millenium.”