Weekly Economic Update: August 31 - September 4, 2015
LAST WEEK
News & Commentary Weekly Highlights:
- Entrepreneur: How the NLRB’s Employment Ruling Could Hurt Jobs, Business Growth (Friday)
- Bloomberg: This Is What Oil at $40 Means for the U.S. Economy (Friday)
- Market Watch: By Another Measure, the U.S. Economy Was Ho-Hum in Second Quarter (Thursday)
- Wall Street Journal: More Minimum-Wage Backfires (Tuesday)
- Wall Street Journal: For All Its Heft, China’s Economy Is a Black Box (Monday)
Top Economic Indicator Highlights:
Gross Domestic Product (second estimate, Q2)
- Real GDP Quarterly Change (annual rate): 3.7%, Previous quarter: 0.6%, Recovery avg.: 2.2%
- Average of GDP and GDI (Gross Domestic Income): 2.2%, Real GDI grew 0.6%
- Noteworthy: Positive contributions to second quarter GDP included upward revisions in business investment, inventories, state and local government spending, and consumer spending. The third and final estimate of GDP for the second quarter will be released on September 25th.
- Current Forecasts for Q3 2015: Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow forecasts 3rd quarter real GDP growth at 1.2%. Wells Fargo’s current third quarter 2015 forecast for annualized real GDP growth is 1.6%. Wall Street Journal’s survey of economists expects an increase of 2.7%.
THIS WEEK
Upcoming Economic Reports & Releases:
Major Indicators
- Motor Vehicle Sales (Tuesday)
- Institute for Supply Management Manufacturing Index (10am, Tuesday)
- Construction Spending (10am, Tuesday)
- Productivity & Costs (8:30am, Wednesday)
- Factory Orders (10am, Wednesday)
- International Trade (8:30am, Thursday)
- Institute for Supply Management Non-Manufacturing Index (10am, Thursday)
- Employment Situation (8:30am, Friday)
Chart of the Week: