"One group that I think is definitely pleased … is the Federal Reserve," says Dr. Walden, a professor of agricultural and resource economics. "They have been worried this year about inflation. Now certainly some people say, 'Well, isn’t that due to higher gas prices?'

"Well, some of it, but there are things the Federal Reserve can do to try to arrest the rate of growth in inflation. One thing they can try to do is slow down the economy, sort of pull back that economic locomotive," he adds.

"So I think the fact that the economy has slowed and we have seen some of the pressure taken off of inflation is definitely pleasing the Federal Reserve.

"They always have this dual goal of trying to have enough growth in the economy to keep people employed yet also have low inflation. And they want a balance between those two -– the so-called Goldilocks combination," he concludes. "And they may have gotten what they wanted this year in the form of just that as a present."