The U.S economy has hit quite a few speed bumps in recent weeks.
U.S. durable goods orders slipped 1.1% in September 2019. In fact, orders fell for the first time in three months thanks to weakness in manufacturing. Economists were looking for a decline of 0.8%. The decline in orders over the last 12 months has now dropped to 5.4% — the biggest drop since the middle of 2016, as noted by MarketWatch.
The ISM September survey on manufacturing registered came in at 47.8%, down from 49.1% from July – the worst on record since June 2019.
Now, over the coming week, we’ll get more information on growth, and the impact of the trade war between the U.S. and China. The first big report will hit the headlines on Wednesday. GDP for the third quarter is expected to fall to about 1.4% from 2%. However, according to the Atlanta Federal Reserve tracking gauge, GDP Now, the economy grew by 1.8% for the quarter, as noted by CNBC.
Later in the week, we’ll get news on how many new jobs were created in October 2019. Unfortunately, the October 2019 report may show growth of less than 100,000 jobs thanks to the strike at General Motors.
“The direct impact from the GM strike is 46,000. That’s a one-for-one reduction in the level of payrolls. On top of that, there are secondary impacts in the GM supply chain, primarily upstream from them— a lot of auto parts manufacturers and other kinds of primary metals companies,” said Bank of America economist Joseph Song, as quoted by CNBC.
“A lot of those factories are shuttered. If you add that up, you’re looking at 150,000 to 200,000 reduction in payrolls,” he added.
