Luke is Chief Economist for Wilmington Trust Investment Advisors (WTIA), a part of the M&T Bank family. He leads the economics team that sets the direction of the firm’s macroeconomic outlook. Luke is also a member of WTIA’s Investment Committee, and plays a critical role in the execution of our economic-led investment process.
Prior to joining Wilmington Trust in 2015, Luke was an officer and economic advisor with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Earlier in his career, Luke worked as a senior economist at IHS Global Insight and as an economist for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Luke holds a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in economics from Temple University, and a bachelor’s degree in economics and history from James Madison University. He is a former adjunct faculty member at Temple University and formerly served on the board of directors of the Pennsylvania Economic Association. In addition, Luke is former president of the Philadelphia Council for Business Economics, a chapter of the National Association for Business Economics.
September 2, 2020—Last week the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve announced changes to its Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy. That official statement, first adopted in 2012 and only modified slightly in years since, is an important guidepost for markets, as it formally establishes how the Fed interprets the mandate given by Congress.
July 31, 2020—As we head into the weekend, Congress is facing some self-imposed deadlines and increasing pressure to pass a new fiscal stimulus package to support the still-weak economy. The most often cited technical deadline is today, July 31, the official end date of the $600 per week boost to unemployment insurance (U/I) recipients.
April 15, 2020—The COVID-19 epidemic and ensuing mitigation measures are unprecedented and will produce jarring impacts on the U.S. and world economies. The stay-at-home measures employed in the U.S. and elsewhere include the forced closure of vast swaths of the economy on both the goods and services sides. The first and most dramatic signs of the damage have been in new claims for unemployment insurance, which show 16.
