The US economy has had a rough first half in 2015, but the pace of growth is picking up. The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model projects a second-quarter expansion of 2.4% (seasonally adjusted annual rate), based on the July 17 estimate. That’s a modest rise, but it represents an encouraging rebound from Q1’s mild contraction. It’s debatable if we’ll see the rate of growth continue to improve in the second half of the year. Meantime, a broad review of economic and financial indicators continues to reflect a positive trend for the macro profile through June. In other words, the current data strongly suggest that last month wasn’t the start of a new recession.
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● US housing starts in June rise to highest level since 2007…
● US consumer inflation up 0.3% in June, down a bit from May…
● US consumer sentiment dips slightly in July…
● Oil down, US dollar up in early Monday trading…
● Europe’s current account surplus retreats in May.