This week's durable goods report was largely disappointing with the 2.2% headline decline, partly the result of a sharp drop in civilian aircraft orders. Excluding the transportation sector, orders still fell 0.6%. With some upward revisions to prior data and a better-than-expected outturn for shipments of core capital goods, equipment spending is still tracking with our Q1 forecast for a 5.7% annualized growth rate.
The fact that capital goods shipments surprised on the upside was one of the few things that went right in this week's durable goods report. Stripping out the volatile defense and aircraft components tends to reveal the underlying trend in activity, and revisions to core orders and shipments were fairly positive. But core capital goods orders declined 0.3% during the month after a 1.3% gain to start the year, suggesting some stalling in activity in February.
Since the GDP account counts bookings once shipped, shipments are the more important indicator when considering the impact on rst quarter growth. Core capital goods shipments (including aircraft) rose a more modest 0.2% in February after near 2% gains in the prior two consecutive months. Despite the step down in growth, the solid start to the quarter still leaves equipment spending in a decent position
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 19 July 2024
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Jul 22, 2024
Retail sales, housing starts and industrial production all surprised to the upside this week.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 10 September 2021
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Sep 13, 2021
Data from the opening weekend of College Football indicates that we will have to endure another season of Nick Saban deification.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 23 September 2020
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Sep 22, 2020
European activity is surging. Germany and Italy are leading the way, but France is close behind despite an ongoing rise in cases. The Google data are a bit outdated, but are hard to reconcile with today’s weak Eurozone services PMI figures.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 10 November 2020
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Nov 17, 2020
The U.S. election has come and gone, but we have not made any meaningful changes to our economic outlook, which continues to look for further expansion in the U.S. economy in coming quarters.
August 2020 Economy At A Glance
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Aug 22, 2020
Downstream involves the refining and processing of oil and natural gas into fuels, chemicals, and plastics. All three sectors are well-represented in Houston.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 12 April 2024
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Apr 18, 2024
The March consumer price data dominated the economic discussion this week and are the latest to support that the timing and degree of Fed easing will be later and smaller than many of us previously expected.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 17 September 2021
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Sep 23, 2021
While we were picking up tree limbs from the yard, data released this week generally showed a stronger economy in August than many expected in the wake of surging COVID cases.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 02 December 2022
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Dec 08, 2022
Total payrolls rose by 263K in November, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 3.7% and average hourly earning rising by 0.6%.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 10 April 2020
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Apr 11, 2020
The Federal Reserve greatly expanded the collateral that it is willing to buy, further easing pressures in financial markets.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 10 January 2020
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Jan 11, 2020
The week began amid rising tensions carrying over from the U.S. killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani last Friday.
