Moody's Talks - Inside Economics

The Inside Economics team unpacks the Federal Reserve's latest rate decision and the divergence of views among policymakers as they navigate the final stretch of 2025. Mark, Cris, and Marisa debate whether the FOMC's messaging was hawkish or dovish, assess whether a labor market shedding jobs can avoid recession, and explore what it all means for the path of interest rates in the year ahead. After a quick stats game, the trio tackles a few provocative listener questions.

Welcome to a bonus episode of Inside Economics. This is a recording that took place between Mark Zandi and our most recent podcast guest, Daleep Singh at the Aspen Ideas Festival a couple of months ago.

Daleep Singh, Vice Chairman and Global Chief Economist of investment manager PGIM, joins the Inside Economics team to discuss the seismic shifts occurring in the global economy and financial system. The unipolar global economy, which the U.S. dominated for decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, has given way to the old normal, a world much like that of the Gilded Age that only ended with World War I. Listen in to hear if Daleep believes this time will be different.

The Inside Economics team laments the lack of a November jobs report but dives into the wealth of data released this week about the labor market, income, and consumer spending. The discussion then turns to affordability and whether it’s a con job or whether households are feeling a real financial pinch. A listener question turns the conversation toward Federal Reserve independence and whether Jerome Powell’s successor is likely to have outsize influence on interest rate decisions.

Scott Hoyt joins the podcast to provide a look into the holiday retail season and to discuss the state of the U.S. consumer more broadly. The team reviews the downbeat data on consumer confidence, the labor market, inflation and housing, and contemplates the implications for consumer spending this Christmas. The team remembers to take a listener question on income inequality and the mood gets even darker. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!