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September 18, 2017

Economic Update – September 18, 2017

As we have written previously GDP growth in Q1 was disappointing at 1.2%, but Q2 did rebound to 3.0% based on the “second” estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis as of the end of August. The better growth figures in Q2 were partly driven by increases in personal consumption. The consensus estimate for Q3 GDP growth is 2.7% with the GDPNow estimate from the Atlanta Fed at 3.0%. However, Hurricanes Harvey and Irma may very well have a near term impact on growth in Q3 and don’t appear to be factored into those estimates. One of the major brokerage […]

February 26, 2018

Economic Update – January/February 2018

Since our last update in December data points related to the economy remain positive overall. Employment and GDP Gains Continue Momentum… In January the economy added 200,000 new jobs following up the 148,000 jobs added in December. The unemployment rate remained at 4.1% for the fourth consecutive month. The first estimate of GDP in the fourth quarter of 2017 was 2.6%, down from 3.2% in the third quarter, a mild disappointment as expectations in December were for growth of over 3.0%. However, within the fourth quarter GDP figure consumer spending grew at 3.8% which was the fastest rate of growth […]