LAST WEEK

News & Commentary Weekly Highlights:

• Market Watch: U.S. Manufacturing Teeters on the Edge of Recession (Friday)
• Wall Street Journal: U.S. Economy Grew Anemic 0.7% in Fourth Quarter (Friday)
• CNN Money: Bank of Japan Cuts Key Interest Rate Into Negative Territory (Friday)
• Bloomberg Business: The $29 Trillion Corporate Debt Hangover that Could Spark a Recession (Wednesday)
• Wall Street Journal: Wary Fed Keeps Its Options Open (Wednesday)

 

Top Economic Indicator Highlights: (update)

Durable Goods Orders (December, advance estimate)

• New Orders: -5.1%, Year/Year Change: -0.6%
• New Orders (excluding transportation): -1.2%, Year/Year change: -3.2%
• Noteworthy: New orders fell $12 billion to $225.4 billion, down four of the last five months and following a 0.5% increase in November. Transportation equipment led the decrease, falling $10.1 billion to $71.3 billion and is also down in four of the last five months. Excluding defense, new orders fell 2.9%.
• Series Detail: Durable goods orders track new orders placed with domestic manufacturers for delivery of durable factory goods.

 

THIS WEEK

Upcoming Economic Reports & Releases:

Major Indicators

• Personal Income & Outlays (8:30am, Monday)
• Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Manufacturing Index (10am, Monday)
• Construction Spending (10am, Monday)
• Vehicle Sales (Tuesday)
• ISM Non-Manufacturing Index (10am, Wednesday)
• Productivity and Costs (8:30am, Thursday)
• Factory Orders (10am, Thursday)
• Employment Situation (8:30am, Friday)
• International Trade (8:30am, Friday)
• Consumer Credit (3pm, Friday)

 

Chart of the Week: 

The chart above demonstrates the best estimate of Moody’s Analytics economists Ryan Sweet and Adam Kamins of the economic cost of last week’s blizzard, falling between roughly $2.5 billion and $3 billion, or 0.02% of the economy. The economists also noted that if the storm had occurred during the workweek, the cost estimate would have tripled.