Fed claims the US recovery on track

<p>Kia ora,</p><p>Welcome to Thursday's Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect New Zealand.</p><p>I'm David Chaston and this is the International edition from Interest.co.nz.</p><p>Today we lead with news, company earnings are mixed, but generally support the idea that the giant US economy is mending quickly.</p><p>The US Fed has been meeting and as expected made <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/files/monetary20210728a1.pdf" target="_blank"><strong>no change to their policy positions</strong></a>. But their mood was upbeat about the trajectory of the US economy and suggesting a tapering is in their plans. And they repeated that they see the current inflation impulse as temporary.</p><p>And it seems that the Biden Administration will pull off a bipartisan infrastructure deal very soon.</p><p>Separately, the US <a href="https://www.census.gov/econ/indicators/advance_report.pdf" target="_blank"><strong>announced</strong></a> a massive -US$94.3 merchandise trade deficit, driven by surging imports which were up almost +5% from May, up +35% from the pandemic-affected June 2020, and up +17% from June 2019. Exports are up too, but not like this.</p><p>One of the early pandemic victims was aircraft manufacturer Boeing. But it is now in recovery mode and <a href="https://investors.boeing.com/investors/investor-news/press-release-details/2021/Boeing-Reports-Second-Quarter-Results/default.aspx" target="_blank"><strong>back in profit</strong></a>, shelving plans to shed another 10,000 workers by the end of the year. It is also now boosting <a href="http://www.boeing.com/commercial/#/orders-deliveries" target="_blank"><strong>production</strong></a> of the 737 MAX jetliner amid the airline industry’s recovery.</p><p>And in other corporate earnings news, Pfizer <a href="https://s21.q4cdn.com/317678438/files/doc_financials/2021/q2/Q2-2021-Earnings-Charts-FINAL.pdf" target="_blank"><strong>says</strong></a> it now expects to make US$34 bln in revenues from its COVID-19 vacci