Economic Surprises Could Fuel Fed Deja Vu for the 2010s

First-quarter economic data has a whiff of the mid-2010s—but in reverse.

In 2015 and 2016, the Federal Reserve and investors predicted interest rate hikes at the start of each year. However, due to a series of global economic setbacks, these expectations were revised downwards. These setbacks included slowdowns in China, a downturn in commodity prices, and Brexit.