While naysayers dismissed today’s 3.2% Q4 annualized GDP growth number because 0.42% of it was from a rise in inventories, excluding them Q4 GDP was 2.8% while Q3 GDP was just 2.5%! Moreover, a drastic decline in federal government defense spending along with the government closure clipped 0.98% from Q4 GDP growth while residential construction, which had a lousy quarter, subtracted 0.32%! Housing will improve, and the closure was one-off.
Tag Archives: inventories
Manufacturing Maximizes
Manufacturing data in the U.S. continues to improve. The Chicago Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) jumped from 68.8 in Jan to 71.2 in Feb — best since July ‘88. Production, orders, inventories, backlogs all rose — the exception; employment. The New York PMI index also rose in Feb to 77.5 from 71.2, and the Milwaukee manufacturing index jumped 6 points to 63, highest level in 7 months. Go Manufacturing!