Personal Income and Consumption Expenditures — Monthly

March 29, 2024 Personal consumption expenditures jumped 0.8% in February after  having risen 0.2% in January and 0.6% in December. The consumer is still willing to spend despite worries about inflation and the pace of Fed tightening. What we are really interested in...

Consumer Sentiment

March 28, 2024 The .final estimate of consumer sentiment for March rose 2.5 points to 79.4 compared to the preliminary estimate which showed a decline of 0.5 point. Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu said,  “.Critically, consumers exhibited confidence that...

GDP

March 28, 2024 . The final estimate of fourth quarter GDP growth was 3.4% compared to the revised estimate of 3.2%…  That compares to a 4.9% increase in the third quarter. While the perception is that the economy is slowing down, it is hard to find much evidence...

Final Sales

March 28, 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 satisfy...