As June came to a close, our index of good news diffusion flirted with and finally surpassed, however briefly, the 50 percent mark. For June’s releases, good news edged out the bad and the good news index (GNI) closed at 52.4. Celebrations were muted as analysts waited for at least another month’s worth of data.
After-tax profits for retailers averaged 1.7 cents per dollar of sales for the first quarter of 2009, up 2.0 cents from the after-tax losses average of 0.3 cents for the fourth quarter of 2008. (Profits are good, moving from losses to profits is good.)
New orders for manufactured durable goods increased 1.8 percent to $163.9 billion in May. (Good. Even better when three of the past four readings have been good; but still accompanied by declines in shipments, particularly in transportation equipment.)
Sales of new one-family houses in May 2009 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000, down 0.6 percent from April. (Bad. Housing-related sectors still struggle to build a foundation for growth.)
Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- decreased at an annual rate of 5.5 percent in the first quarter of 2009. (Bad, obviously, but less bad than both the last quarter of 2008 and earlier estimates of the first quarter of 2009.)
Personal income increased 1.4 percent and disposable personal income increased 1.6 percent in May. Personal consumption expenditures increased $25.1 billion, or 0.3 percent. (Good. We consumers are becoming less of an anchor.)
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