Winter storm Fern is mostly over, its resulting damage, however, will linger for a long time. To assess the economic impact of the brutal winter storm, BofA chief economist Aditya Bhave looked back at Winter Storm Viola, which hit the US in February 2021. Both storms put roughly half the country under a winter weather advisory. Consumer spending fell by 0.9% m/m in February 2021, after a 1.3% increase in January. However, this swing probably wasn’t entirely due to Viola: January 2021 spending was also boosted by the passage of the CAA in December 2020, and favorable seasonal adjustments. In his analysis Bhave used ... (full story)