economy reporter reade pickert. guess the question is, we have been talking about this for a while. are there any indications that it is easing or is it getting worse? reade: thank you for having me. i think we are getting closer to that end. it is not clear when that will be in terms of supply chain challenges. in terms of today's number, it missed estimates. but the fact remains that it remains really strong. it is pulling back from the highest level in decades. what we are seeing is that we have a robust manufacturing sector that is getting limited by supply chain issues. once the supply issues can be worked out, whenever that may be, whether that is in a couple months, the back end of the year, or whatever that looks like, the inventories we keep talking about will suddenly be a vehicle for growth as producers can start replenishing the inventories. romaine: that is the hope. that depends on how long this lasts. in addition to the data, we have from companies this earnings season, microsoft, sony, qualcomm, tesla