Macro Briefing: 14 March 2024

* Wall Street forecasters are playing catch-up with strong US economy
* House passes bill that will force either ban or sale of Tik Tok
* New data reaffirms that US is world’s leading oil producer
* Global oil demand expected to cool vs. 2023, predicts IEA
* Demand for mortgages rebounds as 30-year fixed rate dips below 7%
* US gasoline benchmark price rises to six-month high:

Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen says it’s “unlikely” that interest rates will fall to pre-Covid-19-pandemic levels. “I think it reflects current market realities and the forecasts that we’re seeing in the private sector — that it seems unlikely that yields are going to go back to being as low as they were before the pandemic,” she predicts.