Today’s personal spending and income update for July is a mixed bag. There’s no smoking gun here per se, but the numbers for July certainly don’t look impressive either. The best you can say is that sluggish growth prevails and that the trend is holding up with enough strength to keep the economy out of the ditch. That’s old news, of course, but the recent changes for these crucial data sets leave minimal room for comfort should the economy suffer an unexpected shock. On the bright side, the economy overall still looks relatively resilient, or so it appears based on yesterday’s substantial upward revision in Q2 GDP growth to 2.5% from 1.7%. Nonetheless, when you factor in today’s news on consumer spending and income, it’s still hard to imagine that the US is poised to break free of its moderate-growth track any time soon.
Daily Archives: August 30, 2013
ISM Manufacturing Index: August 2013 Preview
The ISM Manufacturing Index is expected to increase to 55.8 in next week’s August update (scheduled for release on September 3), based on The Capital Spectator’s average econometric forecast. The estimate reflects a slight rise from the previously reported 55.4 for July. Meanwhile, the Capital Spectator’s average projection is moderately higher than a consensus forecast for August that’s based on a survey of economists.
Personal Consumption Expenditures: July 2013 Preview
Today’s update on personal consumption spending in July (scheduled for release later this morning at 8:30 am eastern) is projected to report a rise of 0.2% vs. the previous month, based on The Capital Spectator’s average econometric forecast. That’s below the previously released 0.5% increase for June. Meanwhile, the Capital Spectator’s average forecast for July is slightly below the consensus predictions based on surveys of economists.