Recent economic indicators tell more of the same story– disappointingly weak growth.
U.S. auto sales for September repeated the same kind of numbers we’ve been seeing since March. The last 7 months have averaged 10% above the corresponding values for the same months last year, but well below what had been typical in previous years.
Data source: Wardsauto.com
The ISM manufacturing PMI continues to slide, now standing at 54.4 for September. That still signals a growing economy, but at a slightly slower rate than we’ve been seeing. And the rate we’ve been seeing wasn’t nearly fast enough.
Source: FRED
More troubling was last week’s Chicago Fed National Activity Index, whose 3-month moving average for August stood at -0.42, suggesting quite weak growth. A value below -0.72 would be the sort of number that could signal the beginning of another recession.
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
The economy overall is still growing. But we seem as far from where we’d like to be as ever.
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