U.S. Economic News
January 28, 2021
U.S. Economic Indicators
The advance estimate of Q4 GDP indicates that the U.S. economy expanded at an annualized rate of 4.0%, slightly below consensus estimates. The increase in real GDP reflects positive contributions from business investment, consumer spending, residential investment, and private inventories that were partly offset by negative contributions from government spending and net exports. BEA Report
Initial jobless claims fell 67,000 to 847,000 last week. The four-week moving average decreased increased 16,250 to 868,000. DOL Report
New home sales rose 1.6% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 842,000 and were up 15.2% above year-ago levels. The median sales price edged up to $355,900 and the inventory of new homes rose to 4.3 months at the current sales rate. Census Bureau Report
The U.S. Census Bureau Advance Economic Indicators Report shows that the goods deficit narrowed to $82.5 billion in December from $85.5 billion in November. Meanwhile, wholesale inventories rose 0.1% and retail inventories rose 1.0%. Census Bureau Report
The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index (“LEI”) rose 0.3% in December following a 0.7% increase in November. The LEI’s slowing pace of increase suggests that U.S. economic growth continues to moderate due to rising initial claims for unemployment and a mixed consumer outlook. Conference Board Report