Much like the GDP report, the good news index (GNI) is doing well as we close in on closing out March, but isn’t quite as good as we reported last month. However, in the fine print of BEA’s report there is a bit of good news, although profits were not quite as high in the fourth quarter as they were in the third, the cash flow they generated -- the internal funds available to corporations for investment –increased to $69.1 billion. In the GNI, in contrast, we look in vain for good news in a sector that traditionally leads the economy—housing and its associated construction activity. Doesn't somebody, anybody own all the yellows?
We have a couple of financial reports (for manufacturing, mining, and wholesale and for retail trade) left in March. I will be late getting on the durable goods report next Wednesday so I can slip it into April’s GNI.
For this week:
Sales of new one-family houses in February 2010 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate 2.2 percent below January’s. Bad.
New orders for durable goods increased 0.5 percent in February. Good.
GDP increased at an annual rate of 5.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009. The third estimate of the fourth-quarter increase in real GDP is 0.3 percentage point lower than the second estimate. Good, albeit less good than we thought a month ago.
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