Weekly Economic Update: May 30 – June 2, 2017

May 30, 2017

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Weekly Economic Update: May 30 – June 2, 2017

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CHART OF THE WEEK

Bringing America Back Again

Extrapolating CBO’s economic growth projection from 2007 would bring real GDP to $24.9 trillion in 2027 (2009 dollars); as recently as FY 2014, the Obama Administration projected economic growth that implied $22.9 trillion in 2027 (Obama OMB 2013); the FY 2018 Budget (Trump OMB 2017) aims for $22.7 trillion in 2027.

The Trump budget is attempting to use pro-growth policies such as tax reform and regulatory relief to spur our economy closer to what seemed achievable not too long ago.

LAST WEEK

News & Commentary Weekly Highlights

Wall Street Journal: U.S. Stocks Climb as Fed Signals June Rate Increase

Bloomberg: EU Finalizes Brexit Position as U.K. Threatens to Quit Talks

Bloomberg: Americans Are Paying $38 to Collect $1 of Student Debt

Fortune: Supreme Court Messes With Texas ‘Patent Troll’ Hotbed in Win for Tech Industry

Top Economic Indicator Highlights

Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) (April)

April: 0.23 March: 0.00 February: 0.14

Noteworthy: Between January 2015 and November 2016 the 3-month moving average of CFNAI was negative (indicating below average growth). For five consecutive months, the index has been positive except for March 2017, when it was zero.

Gross Domestic Product (Second Estimate) (Q1-2017)

Second estimate: 1.2% First estimate: 0.7%

Noteworthy: BEA revised its estimate of first quarter real GDP growth up from 0.7% to 1.2%. The upward revision was attributed to greater consumption (spending by households) and nonresidential fixed investment (spending on equipment, machines, and structures by businesses), and a smaller decrease in state and local government spending than was initially reported.