Strategy in TECH...
Although the US is in the midst of a record period of economic expansion, more and more troubling signs have appeared over the last few months in the form of negative economic data points to suggest that a turn in the economy may be coming. This week, a trio of new reports – consumer confidence, sales of newly constructed homes, and corporate earnings revisions – suggest that economic growth is stalling and that “turn” may be here.
In the latest data from the US Department of Commerce, residential construction showed a decline for the month of May in both overall and in single-family starts. Viewed by many as another sign of an economic slowdown, housing is a major component of the overall US gross national product.
The US Department of Labor reported this morning that non-farm jobs grew by 75,000 in May. According to a Wall Street Journal survey of economists, the May jobs number was expected to come in at 180,000 – so this is a large and surprising miss.
[Read more…] about BREAKING NEWS – Gov’t Data Shows Significant Reduction in Job Growth
For the first time ever in history. consumers in the US are spending more time on their mobile devices than they are with viewing programming on their televisions. For decades now, TV has dominated consumer’s time and attention… Now, those days are gone.
The latest data from the Census Bureau shows that sales of new single-family housing in April dropped to a rate of 673,000 on a seasonally adjusted annual basis. This level is down a substantial 6.9% from the adjusted rate for March of 723,000 houses sold.
The latest data from the US Census Bureau shows a pretty nice increase in April residential housing construction starts – a key economic data for the custom integration industry. According to the report, overall housing starts came in at 1,235,000 units on a seasonally adjusted annual rate. This is 5.7% above the revised March rate of 1,168,000…and yet is it also down.
Two different economic reports on the residential housing market show conflicting results. One report is on the latest data in housing starts…the other contains the latest results on new home sales. But these reports paint two very different pictures. Is housing growing? Or rather, is it fading?
According to the most recent data from retail industry market researcher Coresight Research, retail store closings just a little over one quarter into 2019 are nearing the total number of store closings for all of 2018. This data includes both those retail companies falling into bankruptcy…and those trimming locations out of their overall footprint while remaining in business.
In the latest report on consumer confidence, The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index showed a significant drop in overall confidence in the month of March. The Conference Board characterized this drop as “unexpected.” Economists are taking note of this result as March is the first full month after the partial government shutdown in February, and many had expected a more favorable reading.
As regular Strata-gee readers know, I follow basic economic data for our readers. Not all economic data, just that data I feel are germane to the custom integration and consumer electronics industries. Normally, that is a fairly sane and sedate task – but lately, it has gotten a bit crazy, with wild up/down swings the likes of which I haven’t seen since the last great recession. Take housing starts, for example…
