Econoday Unplugged

China faces slowing growth while Europe and the U.S. face strength in headline inflation.

In the U.S., consumer and business confidence are soaring but have yet to translate into substantial gains for actual economic data. In Europe, overall inflation is nearing 2 percent but not core inflation which could move in reverse.

Janet Yellen is no hurry to reduce the central bank's $4.5 trillion balance sheet despite calls for unwinding from within the Fed, just one of the highlights of her Tuesday testimony.

Job growth is solid and unemployment continues to come down both in the U.S. and Europe, yet wage inflation remains soft and is scrambling definitions of full employment.

Updates on Japan and Europe where improving growth rates, together with a tightening U.S. labor market, raise the question whether inflation may begin to build.

European indicators are showing life as are those in the U.S., while China holds steady and firm.

China's claiming the high ground in what may be a coming trade war, one initiated by Brexit where more uncertainty appears to be the outlook. In the US, we update the post-election economy.

From retail sales in the US to factory output in the EU, the latest in economic news and how politics may be affecting the outlooks.

Though likely holding steady in the early part of the year, the economic outlook may shift dramatically as the Trump administration tries to move its stimulus programs through Congress and as a series of key elections, against a backdrop of populism, take place in Europe.

The global economy is picking up but politics and its effect on policy are the question marks for 2017, whether in Europe or the U.S.