Small business confidence remained elevated during October 2017 according to data from the National Federation of Independent Businesses’ (NFIB) Optimism Index. This indicator made back some of the 2.3 point decline in September, gaining 0.8 in the latest survey. Of the ten components, four rose, five declined marginally, and one remained unchanged.
Economic output remained robust during October 2017 according to data from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). Measures quantifying the health of both the manufacturing and service sides of the economy suggest output is strong. Despite a modest cooling in the manufacturing tally (58.7 versus 60.8 in September), this cyclically sensitive portion of output remains well ahead of
A Mahayana Buddhist tale describes two birds, the Kankucho, who live high atop the world's tallest mountains. It's always cold there, so too are they. Every night Mrs. Kankucho cries out "I'm freezing." and Mr.
Data were mixed in the latest release on International Trade from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. On the one hand, the trade deficit increased which will subtract from gross domestic product (GDP). On the other hand, both components of the indicator increased versus a month earlier, suggesting growing global output. In total, the trade deficit increased to $43.5 billion in Se
America’s productivity jumped from July through September of 2017 according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Output-per-labor-hour increased 3.0 percent on an annualized basis, doubling the prior quarter’s pace. This jump is the best quarterly improvement since the third quarter of 2014. Additionally, unit labor costs rose as employee compensation
America’s economy added many jobs in October 2017 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employers filled 261,000 new jobs to start the final quarter of the year. Additionally, the dismal tally reported a month earlier (minus 33,000) was upwardly revised to positive 18,000 net new jobs, and another 39,000 jobs were added to the August tally. This revision restores
Consumers are chuffed with the economy according to two popular measures of consumer attitudes. In October 2017, both measures reached levels not seen in over a decade. Consumer Confidence jumped 5.3 points to 125.9 according to the Conference Board, a 17-year high. The University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment recorded a tally of 100.7 or the best level in nearly 14 y
Earlier this month I was drawn to this Bloomberg headline: "Yellowstone supervolcano may erupt sooner than thought, potentially wiping out planet." Naturally I immediately logged a call to my insurance agent to make sure I would still be covered in such an event.
Personal income rose 0.4 percent in September 2017 according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This $66.9 billion uptick accelerated from August’s increase of 0.2 percent. Likewise, disposable personal income, aka after-tax pay, improved 0.4 percent. Americans used the additional take-home pay to partially fund their 1.0 percent increase in consumption. Since out
Economic output advanced at an inflation-adjusted 3.0 percent annualized rate from July through September 2017 according to gross domestic product (GDP) figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. While there will be at least two more attempts to quantify output for this period, the early estimate shows output decelerated from the previous quarter’s growth rate of 3.1 percent.
Orders for durable goods jumped in September according to the Census Bureau. Orders for wares expected to last longer than three years increased 2.2 percent or $5.1 billion to $238.7 billion. This increase, which is the third in four months, followed August’s uptick of 2.0 percent. Like the prior period, commercial aircraft orders led the monthly gain.
Sales of new homes surged in September 2017. According to the Census Bureau, transactions rose to 667,000 on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis. This is 18.9 percent above August’s upwardly revised tally of 561,000 (originally 560,000). This jump represents the largest percentage gain in 28 years and puts the indicator at its highest level in the current economic cyc
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