First Quarter GDP Revised Upward, Durable Goods Orders above Expectations

Today, the BEA revised first quarter GDP growth upward to 1.9 percent. The .1 percent increase from the previous estimate of 1.8 percent was due to small increase in net exports and private inventories, and a partial offset from a downward revision in state and local government spending.

The .1 percent revision is too small to make much of a difference to the economic outlook. A bit more notable is data released today by the Census on durable goods orders. Orders increased by 1.9 percent. This is monthly data, so the estimate is fairly noisy, but this was above the consensus forecasts of 1.6 percent.

Like many other macroeconomic variables lately, these movements are in the right direction, but that rate of change is much too slow for comfort.