For the second consecutive year, Ellen Zentner, chief U.S. Economist and managing director at Morgan Stanley, presented at the Weatherhead School of Management’s David A. Bowers Economic Forecast Luncheon.
More than 200 attendees received an insider’s view of the near-term U.S. economic landscape during Zentner’s masterful presentation, followed by an interactive question and answer session moderated by Daniel Shoag, PhD, associate professor of economics at Weatherhead.
In her 40-minute presentation, Zentner discussed consumer spending and household balance sheets, which is expected to remain average. Zenter described business investment as “better, but modest” and labor market and wages that will continue to improve, although the unemployment rate is expected to continue falling until 2021. She also highlighted what key risks in 2020 will be including political uncertainty and consumer confidence, as well as “wild cards”, including gas prices and stock market vitality.
Zentner spent the day before the luncheon on campus with Case Western Reserve University students from multiple disciplines and levels of study. Through personal, small group sessions, students received a first-hand look into what life is like on Wall Street and what steps Zentner took to get to where she is today. She discussed career paths, resume building, the job market, working on teams, and other important topics relevant to careers in the finance and the vast opportunities open to economic majors.
Zentner was named to the “Bloomberg Best” list of top forecasters of the U.S. economy and has more than 20 years' experience as a Fed watcher and markets-based economist. In 2018, Zenter and her team received the Lawrence R. Klein Award for the most accurate economic forecasts from 2014 to 2017.