Popular Economics Weekly
Consumers have to do better, if GDP growth is to exceed 3 percent, as the recent tax cut bill promised. Consumer spending was weak in the first quarter and the first look at the second quarter is no better than moderate. Total retail sales rose an as-expected 0.3 percent in April. That still means retail sales are increasing almost 5 percent annually, but that can’t continue with such small monthly increases.
Vehicle sales, despite a decline in previously reported unit sales, posted a rise of 0.1 percent in the month which is very respectable given the oversized comparison with March when sales jumped 2.1 percent. Gasoline sales rose 0.8 percent on higher prices in the month and when excluding both vehicles and gas, retail sales matched the 0.3 percent showing at the headline level.
And manufacturing is picking up for the second straight month. Industrial production rose 0.7 percent in April, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday. Strength is the message from industrial production which rose 0.7 percent in April on top of an upward revised 0.7 percent gain in March, which should boost Q2 GDP growth above the 1.9 percent Q1 initial estimate. But that won’t get us to 3 percent GDP growth, either. Manufacturing production moved 0.5 percent higher. Mining once again leads the gains with a 1.1 percent surge in the month with utility output also positive at a 1.9 percent gain.
Details throughout the retail report were mixed: furniture, which offers a reading on housing demand, extended recent strength with a 0.8 percent gain but restaurants, and their indication on discretionary spending, fell 0.3 percent but following a sharp gain in February, reports Econoday. Building materials rose 0.4 percent in another positive sign for residential investment while nonstore retailers, the report's strongest component, posted a solid 0.6 percent gain.
Today’s new-home construction report was also positive, as housing demand remains robust, but the jury is still out on whether the massive tax cuts will boost consumer spending at all, and so economic growth past the 2 percent plus annual rate that has prevailed since the end of the Great Recession.
Harlan Green © 2018
Follow Harlan Green on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarlanGreen
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