Economic indicators

Misleading data and hypersensitivity left over from the last financial crisis have us scared of shadows. The U.S. consumer is actually in pretty good shape.

The Canadian bank now expects loan growth in the mid-single-digit range this year, down from a high-single-digit forecast three months ago. "We're not slowing, but the economy is," one executive said.

On Tuesdays, this band of seven Republican senators, which includes some of the chamber's leading obstructionists, meets to plot ways to extract austere spending concessions from Democrats in exchange for their help in averting a catastrophic U.S. payments default.

Ultraconservatives in the House have dominated the public discussion on the U.S. debt ceiling, but Speaker Kevin McCarthy can't afford to ignore GOP centrists if the country is to avoid a catastrophic payments default later this year.

The Birmingham, Alabama, bank expects up to $5 billion in additional deposit declines in the first half of 2023 but is hopeful for potential growth in funding later this year.

The Cincinnati bank expects net interest income growth to cool considerably and fee income to tread water as rate hikes slow and inflation moderates but still continues.

The Pittsburgh bank posted a solid profit and said that it expects continued loan growth. But the pace of business expansion could slow alongside an economic downturn.

CEO Bruce Van Saun said that any potential recession will likely be "subdued," as the Rhode Island bank projected a rebound in noninterest income.

Regulators must not choke off lending at a time when banks are well positioned to help ease the blow of an economic downturn.

The market volatility and interest rate hikes that gave U.S. banks their biggest windfall last year may prove to be their biggest headache in 2023.