Season 6, Episode 3: Welcome back to a new episode of Keeping it Real with Dr. Kuehl. ASA Chief Economist Dr. Chris Kuehl is out this week so Keith Prather: Dr. Kuehl’s partner at Armada; talks to members about the volatility with oil and oil prices.

ASA Chief Economist Dr. Chris Kuehl is out this week, but we are still back with a special economic update podcast hosted by Keith Prather: Managing Director at Armada Corporate Intelligence. In Season 6, Episode 3 (6:45 in length), Keith talks about the forecast for oil prices and how the winter storm came into play.

1. What are we seeing overall per barrel?
2. Oil prices surge to multi-month highs—what’s behind the spike?
3. Middle East vs. Venezuela — what’s behind the jump in oil prices?
4. Production being pulled back, are we producing a record amount of oil still?
5. What happens on a geopolitical bases?
6. What will encourage brand new production?
7. Ukraine - is a cease fire agreement in the works?
8. Will this allow more Russian oil to flow on the open market?
9. EIA forecast - what are the projections?
10. 2026 through Q4 - what are the predictions of price per barrel?

Ask Dr. Kuehl a Question!

Have a question or topic for Chris Kuehl that you would like answered on this podcast? Email it to Brianna Dovichi at [email protected].

Season 6, Episode 2: Welcome back to a new episode of Keeping it Real with Dr. Kuehl. This week, Dr. Chris Kuehl talks to members about 4th quarter data. Any surprises?

ASA Chief Economist Dr. Chris Kuehl is back with his weekly economic update podcast. In Season 6, Episode 2 (6:25 in length), ASA Chief Economist Dr. Chris Kuehl talks about the latest data and three things we should keep an eye on for the weeks and months to come.

1. Arrival of information from the new budget bill... what is this designed to do?
2. When will any of this get approved and when will we see it go into affect?
3. What is the biggest challenge in the construction sector?
4. Will there be any real change with what The Fed is planning?
5. Hawks vs. doves in The Fed - what is the difference of impact?
6. International reactions - what is so significant?
7. Trump vs. Europe - what kind of fallout will this have?

Ask Dr. Kuehl a Question!

Have a question or topic for Chris Kuehl that you would like answered on this podcast? Email it to Brianna Dovichi at [email protected].

Season 6, Episode 1: Welcome back to a new season of Keeping it Real with Dr. Kuehl. This week, Dr. Chris Kuehl talks to members about Venezuela, and what we know and don't know about them.

ASA Chief Economist Dr. Chris Kuehl is back with his weekly economic update podcast. In Season 6, Episode 1 (8:48 in length), ASA Chief Economist Dr. Chris Kuehl talks about oil production and the interference with Venezuela.

1. What is the important thing?
2. What does this mean for the U.S. economy?
3. Why does this all come down to oil?
4. What are the two kinds of oil and why is this significant?
5. Which crude oil has been more ideal for Venezuela?
6. Are they going to go back to balance production between the two oils?
7. Will this disturb the overall oil market?
8. What will the per barrel price be?
9. What is the speculation at this stage?
10. Will we see an immediate reaction to oil prices?

Ask Dr. Kuehl a Question!

Have a question or topic for Chris Kuehl that you would like answered on this podcast or on his monthly ASA members only webinar?

Email it to Brianna Dovichi at [email protected]

Season 5, Episode 35: Welcome back to Keeping it Real with Dr. Kuehl. This week Dr. Kuehl talks about the upcoming year - what do we want as far as the economy is concerned?

ASA Chief Economist Dr. Chris Kuehl is back with his weekly economic update podcast. In Season 5, Episode 35 (8:24 in length), this marks the final episode of Keeping It Real with Dr. Kuehl for 2025. In this week’s podcast, ASA Chief Economist Dr. Chris Kuehl looks ahead to the coming year and asks an important question: what do we want from the economy in 2026?

1. Controlled inflation - have we be seeing all the ingredients that make up inflation?
2. Do we want inflation to stay where its at right now?
3. How do we get the consumer to stay as active as they are now?
4. Who are these active consumers??
5. Will things slow down after the holidays? What should we see come spring?
6. Relief on the labor front - how likely is this?
7. Why are jobs so hard to get now? How do we get better at this?
8. Will we see a calmer response to an election year?
9. Consumer attitude - are they actually worried about the future?
10. Why do all 5 of these things affect ASA members?
11. What can we really expect?

Ask Dr. Kuehl a Question!

Have a question or topic for Chris Kuehl that you would like answered on this podcast or on his monthly ASA members only webinar?

Email it to Brianna Dovichi at [email protected].

Season 5, Episode 34: Welcome back to Keeping it Real with Dr. Kuehl. This week Dr. Kuehl talks about the end of year - predictions for 2026.

ASA Chief Economist Dr. Chris Kuehl is back with his weekly economic update podcast. In Season 5, Episode 34 (8:21 in length), Dr. Kuehl talks to members about the new year & new data.

• October data - will that ever be analyzed or released?
• What 4 things have been preoccupying economists for the last year or longer?
• Inflation - what is the trick? Will it continue to be an issue?
• When we track inflation, what counts as "reducing" inflation?
• What are inflation numbers right now? What sector has jumped?
• Employment - what are job numbers looking like?
• Where are we seeing layoffs? Why?
• Growth... what has made the growth so spectacular this year?
• Will we see an impact on the holiday season?
• Reactions by the Fed & government - what are they saying?
• Decisions of 2026 - how often will they cut rates?
• Who will the next Fed share be? Why does this matter?
• Will the Fed cut rates in 2026? If so, when??

Ask Dr. Kuehl a Question!

Have a question or topic for Chris Kuehl that you would like answered on this podcast or on his monthly ASA members only webinar?

Email it to Brianna Dovichi at [email protected].

Season 5, Episode 33: Welcome back to Keeping it Real with Dr. Kuehl. This week Dr. Kuehl talks about data.

ASA Chief Economist Dr. Chris Kuehl is back with his weekly economic update podcast. In Season 5, Episode 33 (8:20 in length), Dr. Kuehl talks to members about data - specifically the hole from the shutdown.

• What really happened in October?
• November data change - is it changed from October or really in November? Will we ever know?
• National data vs. regional data... what is more useful?
• ASA members should concentrate more on which data?
• Unemployment rate varies per state - why is that?
• Data is only as good as the collection - why is this hard?
• Lag in collection of data - does it always have to be revised?
• Caution on AI - why?
• How to get accurate information on data when it comes to AI?

Ask Dr. Kuehl a Question!

Have a question or topic for Chris Kuehl that you would like answered on this podcast or on his monthly ASA members only webinar?

Email it to Brianna Dovichi at [email protected].

Season 5, Episode 32: Welcome back to Keeping it Real with Dr. Kuehl. This week Dr. Kuehl talks about why the economy is so spooky… what is going on??

ASA Chief Economist Dr. Chris Kuehl is back with his weekly economic update podcast. In Season 5, Episode 32 (7:36 in length), Dr. Kuehl talks to members about “media hysteria” – all the bad & extreme news lately.

• Why have economic headlines been a lot more distressing than the actual article?
• Can you look at economic information glass half full, glass half empty?
• The U.S. GDP numbers are bigger than China, Germany, Japan, and the U.K. all together – what does that mean?
• What industry is really feeling the pinch of the current economy?
• Manufacturing, retail, AI, & automotive sectors… is there potential good news?
• Is national data useful or not?
• Variability around the economy – where ASA members should be looking…
• Will there be a massive impact of rate cuts?
• Are we going to see that extra project work make 2026 more dynamic?

Ask Dr. Kuehl a Question

Have a question or topic for Chris Kuehl that you would like answered on this podcast? Email it to Brianna Dovichi at [email protected].

Season 5, Episode 30: Welcome back to Keeping it Real with Dr. Kuehl. This week Dr. Kuehl reports on a distressing inflation update…

ASA Chief Economist Dr. Chris Kuehl is back with his weekly economic update podcast. In Season 5, Episode 30 (8:20 in length), Dr. Kuehl talks to members about inflation, what does it mean, why economists worry about it.

• Inflation comes in 3 different categories – what are they?
• What is creeping inflation? Do we worry about this kind of inflation?
• What is walking inflation? Do we get high rates in this category?
• What is galloping inflation? We rarely see this – why?
• What is the worst category of them all? Have we ever seen the worst of the worst?
• Is the 3% inflation rate we are at now what we aimed for?
• What can we see with gas prices & other energy prices? Are we looking at an oil glut?
• When can the U.S. oil producers make money?
• Inflation continues to rise – does this affect the Fed’s decisions?
• What happens if inflation gets more aggressive?
• Rate reductions in 2026 – should we be optimistic?

Ask Dr. Kuehl a Question

Have a question or topic for Chris Kuehl that you would like answered on this podcast? Email it to Brianna Dovichi at [email protected].

Season 5, Episode 29: Welcome back to Keeping it Real with Dr. Kuehl. This week Dr. Kuehl reports on the economic data that is not being released until the shutdown process is over.

ASA Chief Economist Dr. Chris Kuehl is back with his weekly economic update podcast. In Season 5, Episode 29 (8:32 in length), Dr. Kuehl talks to members about the government shut down & how it affects economic data coming from an economist themselves.

• How do we deal with data?
• Each economist has different opinions – how do we trust data?
• What is data’s strength & weakness? Why is it so hard to get an answer?
• Data is only as good as the collection itself – why is this a problem?
• How do you find relevant data for what you are actually looking for?
• ASA field all local & regional data – do we care about national data??
• How to understand that there is no sophisticated way to lie rather than in statistics.
• Assess data in a selfish & personal way – how is it affecting YOU?
• The biggest challenge of them all – how do you know if the data you are getting is legitimate?
• ASA gets information from ASA – advocating for the industry – can we trust each other?

Ask Dr. Kuehl a Question

Have a question or topic for Chris Kuehl that you would like answered on this podcast? Email it to Brianna Dovichi at [email protected].

Season 5, Episode 28: Welcome back to Keeping it Real with Dr. Kuehl. This week Dr. Kuehl reports on the government shut down – what concerns are we having?

ASA Chief Economist Dr. Chris Kuehl is back with his weekly economic update podcast. In Season 5, Episode 28 (6:08 in length), Dr. Kuehl talks to members about the government shut down & what does this mean?

• Are shutdowns impactful? Do they recover quickly?
• Do government employees catch up with back pay? What groups are hurting most?
• What is the real problem with companies shying away from working with the government??
• The new BBB Bill – why should the construction sector tune in?
• Impact the economy next year – what is the monkey wrench now with this hold?
• Will this provision be mute? What is the latest news today?
• If a proper deal is made, will the shutdown end?
• Figuring out a budget after it’s become a crisis… why wasn’t this decision made a long time ago?
• Most of the data now sending positive signals? Unemployment low, GDP growth, is this guaranteed for the rest of the year?
• Are we on the cusp of a recession?

Ask Dr. Kuehl a Question

Have a question or topic for Chris Kuehl that you would like answered on this podcast? Email it to Brianna Dovichi at [email protected].