CHART OF THE WEEK

 

Business investment represents the amount businesses and nonprofits spend on assets that will help them produce more, such as land, buildings, and equipment.  These investments are not only part of the measurement of today’s gross domestic product (GDP) but also help to fuel future growth – tomorrow’s GDP.  During recoveries before 2009, investments averaged 17.8% of GDP, but the average sank to 15.5% in this recovery, 2.3% lower.

 

Less investment results in slower economic growth.  Tax reform that boosts the return on investment is an essential step in reviving growth.

 

LAST WEEK

News & Commentary Weekly Highlights

• Weekly Standard: Revenge of the Nerds (Friday)
• Bloomberg: White House: Cohn-Led Tax Plan Is Real and It’s Phenomenal (Friday)
• Wall Street Journal: Donald Trump’s Cabinet Won’t Include Chairman of CEA (Thursday)
• Wall Street Journal: How We’ll Stop a Rogue Federal Agency (Wednesday)
• MarketWatch: As Tarullo exits, Fed regional presidents may briefly have majority of voting power (Wednesday)

 

Top Economic Indicator Highlights

• Survey of Professional Forecasters (First Quarter 2017)
  • Recent survey (2017-Q1) forecasts for real GDP growth:
    • 2017: 2.3%             2018: 2.4%             2019: 2.6%
• Previous survey (2016-Q4) forecasts for real GDP growth:
  • 2017: 2.2%               2018: 2.1%               2019: 2.1%
• Noteworthy: Each quarter the Philly Fed surveys professional forecasters’ projections of key macroeconomic variables such as GDP, inflation, jobs, etc.  The release notes that the “U.S. economy looks stronger than it did three months ago, according to 42 forecasters surveyed... projections for the annual-average level of nonfarm payroll employment suggest job gains at a monthly rate of 180,300 in 2017, up from the previous estimate of 173,600.”

 

JEC Releases

• New JEC Website Feature: Health Care Resources (Monday)

 

THIS WEEK

Upcoming Economic Data and Events

• Monday
  • No Releases
• Tuesday
  • No Releases
• Wednesday
  • Consumer Price Index (8:30am)
  • Real Earnings (8:30am)
  • Atlanta Fed Business Inflation Expectations Survey (10:00am)
  • Business Inventories (10:00am)
• Thursday
  • No Releases
• Friday
  • Composite Indexes (10:00am)