As Soft Data Booms, Hard Trade Data Turns Positive in February

The “soft” data seems to be wining the day – and it is making Bank of America Merrill Lynch Credit Strategist Hans Mikkelsen “feel good.” But there is also hard data that is turning heads of analysts -- a topic that was part of a political debate.

Consumer Confidence highest since just before the 2001 "Tech Wreck" market crash

In a March 28 Situation Room report, Mikkelsen looks at the markets and notes that the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence number is the highest since 2000. This data point can be taken from two perspectives.

Consumers being confident is said to correlate with higher spending and thus positive Gross Domestic Product numbers and the...