The January personal income and outlays report is horrific. Personal Income nose dived -3.6% from December and hasn't seen this big of a monthly drop since January 1993. That's 20 years ago. The blame is being laid on the payroll tax holiday expiration and December did see a rise in personal income also not seen since December 2004. Disposable income is worse. DPI dropped -4.0%, even when adjusted for inflation. Ouch!
The BEA released corporate profits for Q3 2012 along with the GDP. Corporate profits after tax shot up 5.2% from Q2 2012 to $1,752.2 billion. Corporate profits after tax are also up 18.6% from a year ago.
The October personal income and outlay's report is not good news. Consumer spending decreased -0.2% from last month, and when adjusted for inflation was a -0.3% decline for October. Consumer spending is another term for personal consumption expenditures or PCE.
The BEA released corporate profits for Q2 2012 along with the GDP. Corporate profits after tax declined -1.4% from Q1 2012 to $1,648.3 billion. Corporate profits after tax are also up 13.3% from a year ago.
The annual trade data out of the December trade report has some shocking results. The 2011 trade deficit increased 11.6% from 2010. As a percentage of GDP the trade deficit is returning to pre-recession levels. The trade deficit is now 3.7% of U.S. GDP, up from 3.4% in 2010. The worst was 2006, when the soaring out of balance, trade deficit was 5.6% of GDP. Below is a graph of the U.S. trade deficit as a percentage of U.S. annual nominal GDP.
Q3 GDP 2011 was revised down another 0.2 percentage points to 1.8%.. Consumer spending was revised significantly downward due to a large downward revision to medical expenditures. GDP was initially reported to be 2.5% for the third quarter, then revised to 2.0% on the second estimate report and now a measly 1.8% for the final, 3rd revision.
The September 2011 U.S. trade deficit decreased $1.81 billion to $43.11 billion. This is 4.03% drop from last month in the trade deficit. August's trade deficit was revised down from $45.61 billion to $49.92 billion. Exports increased $2.5 billion, or 1.41%, while imports increased $688 million, or 0.31%.
The August 2011 U.S. trade deficit increased $17 million to $$45.61 billion. This is no change (0.037%) from last month in the trade deficit. July's trade deficit was revised up slightly from $44.8 billion. Exports decreased by $95 million, or no change, while imports decreased $100 million, or 0%.
The July 2011 U.S. trade deficit decreased $6.8 billion to $44.8 billion. This is a 13.11% monthly decrease in the trade deficit. Exports increased by $6.2 billion, or 3.61%, while imports decreased $0.5 billion, or 0.22%. China imports, not seasonally adjusted, increased 1.12% in July, creating a $27 billion trade deficit with China.
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