Posted on 03/26/2015 7:21:22 PM PDT by Lorianne
Today’s durable goods report for February was another shot at this wobbly edifice of the US economy.
New orders for manufactured durable goods dropped by 1.4%, the Census Bureau reported. It was the third decrease in four months. Transportation equipment fell 3.5%, also the third decrease in four months. Excluding transportation, new orders – “core” durable goods – fell 0.4%, down for the fifth month in a row.
And Core Capital Goods New Orders, considered an important gauge of business spending, fell 1.4%, down for the sixth month in a row. The weather is really hard to blame for this, so folks blamed the strong dollar and slack demand in the US and globally.
The data was bad enough to push the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model of the US economy down another step toward zero growth in the first quarter.
The Atlanta Fed started the model in 2011 to offer a more immediate picture where the economy is headed. It takes into account economic data as released and adjusts its GDP forecast for the quarter as it goes. The model is volatile. It reacts to incoming monthly data that are themselves volatile and subject to sharp revisions. So a few strong releases for March could turn this thing around on a dime.
(Excerpt) Read more at wolfstreet.com ...
BS!! We have been in negative growth for 2 years. You don’t believe these cooked numbers on anything.
I’m not surprised at this. After all, the upper Midwest and Northeast suffered through one of the coldest winters in recent memory in 2015, and that put a huge brake on economic activity (there’s still snow on the ground in much of the Northeast even now).
I hold the view that even under good circumstances, a standard recovery would have run its course by now. With Obama’s anti-business policies, it is difficult to see why this ‘recovery’ would last any longer than average. The recovery, weak as it was, is running out of steam.
You said...
“There was an article couple months back about how the US government held off on reporting a spike in healthcare expenditures for a couple of quarters. When they did report them, they were used to claim that there was a big jump in quarterly GDP.”
That was Q32014. It came in at 5% but roughly 2% of that was ObamaCare spending.
“Zero Growth”
The most appropriate name for the Obama economy.
It will be hailed as great news
ping
They will manipulate the situation until the toilet is flushed.
If it wasn’t for deficit spending and Fed money printing this would count as the deepest depression in US history.
“Zero Growth “ Must be “ Hope and Change” achieved. Obama is a true visionary. Let’s not forget all the help he’s gotten from the Fed as well.
Does 0 growth mean that income inequality is being whipped?
Happy days are here again
The skies above are clear again
Let us sing a song of cheer again
Happy days are here again!
Just saying.
America needs to bring back, American manufacturing.
Uh-ho...don't let some FR lurkers see you typing that; you might get type-lashed. /s (strongly agreed, imho)
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