Personal Income and Consumption Expenditures — Monthly

December 20, 2024 Personal consumption expenditures rose 0.4% in November after rising 0.3% in October and 0.7% in September.  In the past year nominal spending has risen 5.5%. What we are really interested in is “real” or inflation-adjusted spending. ...

Existing Home Sales

December 19, 2024 . Existing home sales rose 4.8% in November to 4,150 thousand after increasing 3.4% in October  That is the fastest pace of home sales since March.  The steady increase in jobs is boosting income, mortgage rates should fall somewhat in the months...

GDP

December 19, 2024 . The final estimate of third quarter GDP was  3.1% which is slightly higher than the preliminary estimate of 2.8%.  This compares to GDP growth of 3.0% in the second quarter.  Growth in the past year has been 2.7% Final sales, which is GDP excluding...

Final Sales

December 19, 2024 When the economy is slowing down, firms will accumulate unwanted inventories.   Those inventories still show up in GDP, but they are unsold.  Hence, GDP will be biased upwards.  Similarly, in good times businesses will reduce inventory levels to...

Final Sales to Domestic Purchasers

December 19, 2024 It is important to remember that final sales is a measure of how many domestically produced goods are sold each quarter.  But we also sell goods overseas — our exports.   And we purchase goods from other countries — our imports. In the...