USA Gross domestic product
expanded in the last quarter of 2014 at a 2.6 percent annual pace after the
third quarter's 5 percent rate. The imputation of slower growth may not be substantiated by longer term trends:
'Labor markets are doing well. Employers added jobs at an average rate of 229,000 per
month in the first 10 months of 2014, which is 18 percent higher than the rate
in 2013, This acceleration in job growth brought the
unemployment rate down to 5.8 percent as of October 2013, compared with 7.2 percent
one year ago.
Falling energy prices have improved consumer balance sheets . USA
households are gradually regaining wealth they lost during the financial crisis.
November 2014 reading from the Philadelphia Fed's Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey indicated strong growth in manufacturing activity. The index
had then been positive for nearly 18 consecutive months, with the only
aberration in February 2014 during the depths of our severe winter weather.[1]
Measure
called U6, which includes marginally attached workers and those working part
time for economic reasons, has fallen from its peak of 17.2 percent to
11.5 percent.
The
personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, price index, the measure of
inflation preferred by the FOMC, registered a 1.4 percent increase over
the 12 months through October.
It remains above the level that should stoke concerns of sustained
deflation.
The core PCE index, which excludes food and energy, is a bit higher
than the overall measure, increasing 1.6 percent over the 12 months through
October.
Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of
U.S. economic activity, advanced at a 4.3 percent pace in the fourth quarter -
the fastest since the first quarter of 2006 and an acceleration from the third
quarter's 3.2 percent pace.'
http://www.philadelphiafed.org/research-and-data/regional-economy/business-outlook-survey/)
Views expressed without any risk or responsibility.
No comments:
Post a Comment