1. The U.S. labor market: The U.S. economy is experiencing an 11-year expansion, its longest in history, as the unemployment rate sits at 3.5%, a 50-year low. However, one of the missing ingredients in this expansion has been productivity growth, resulting in slower wage growth than in previous economic cycles, putting a damper on inflation. With the labor force growth rate slowing, a continued expansion hinges primarily on hopes for a pickup in productivity growth.
