Weekly Economic Update February 2-6, 2015
LAST WEEK
Daily Econ Digest Weekly Highlights:
- Real Clear Markets: Unemployment Sank When We Stopped Paying For It (Friday)
- Wall Street Journal: Up to Six Million Households Facing Penalty for Skipping Health Insurance (Thursday)
- Market Watch: Fed statement implies a midyear hike is still a possibility (Thursday)
- Forbes: Why Is The Recovery So Slow? Too Much Regulation (Tuesday)
- Wall Street Journal: How Student Debt Harms the Economy (Tuesday)
Top Economic Indicator Highlights:
Gross Domestic Product (Q4:2014, advance estimate)
Fourth Quarter 2014 (Annualized, 2009$)
- Real GDP: $16.3 Trillion
- Real GDP growth: 2.6%
- Previous quarter: 5.0%
- Market expectation: 3.2%
- Underlying component changes: Major contributors included personal consumption expenditures, nonresidential and residential fixed investment, private inventory investment, exports and state and local government spending. Offsetting these contributions included a decrease in federal government spending, particularly in national defense, as well as an increase in imports.
Annual 2014 (2009$)
- Real GDP: $16.1 Trillion
- Real GDP growth (from 2013 to 2014 annual level): 2.4%
- Previous year: 2.2%
- Five-year average: 2.2%
- Underlying component changes: Major contributors in the fourth quarter were also the same positive contributors to annual GDP, boosted by accelerated nonresidential fixed investment and a smaller decrease in federal spending than in the prior year, offset slightly by an increase in imports and a slowing in residential fixed investment.
THIS WEEK
Upcoming Economic Reports & Releases:
Reports
Major Indicators
- Personal Income and Outlays (8:30am, Monday)
- Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Manufacturing Index (10am, Monday)
- Construction Spending (10am, Monday)
- Factory Orders (10am, Tuesday)
- Vehicle Sales (Tuesday)
- ISM Services Index (10am, Wednesday)
- International Trade (8:30am, Thursday)
- Productivity & Costs (8:30am, Thursday)
- Employment Situation (8:30am, Friday)
- Consumer Credit (3pm, Friday)
Chart of the Week:
