News

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased in 47 states [CA at 2.1%] and the District of Columbia in the third quarter of 2015, according to statistics on the geographic breakout of GDP released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Overall, U.S. real GDP by state growth slowed to an annual rate of 1.9 percent in the third quarter of 2015 after increasing 3.8 percent in the second quarter. Retail trade; health care and social assistance; and agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting were the leading contributors to real U.S. economic growth in the third quarter.

Personal spending rose 0.5% in January from the prior month, the Commerce Department said on Friday, and Americans’ pretax earnings from salaries and investments increased at the same pace.

Real gross domestic product increased 1% in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to a second estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis Friday. The data is an expansion from the 0.7% growth initially reported last month.

Industrial production—a broad measure of everything made by manufacturers, mines and utilities—jumped 0.9% in January from a month earlier, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.

The California New Car Dealers Association said Monday that vehicle sales rose to 2.05 million in 2015, up from 1.85 million the year before. The growth rate in California compared with 5.2 percent growth nationally.

U.S. consumers showed signs of strength in January, taking advantage of low oil prices to increase their spending and offering a welcome counterpoint to the gloom that has gripped investors and roiled markets since the start of the year.

Knowing that net out-migrants are more likely to be middle-class working young professional families provides some hints as to why people are leaving California for greener pastures. For one, California is an extraordinarily high cost-of-living state. Whether it is the state’s housing affordability crisis – California’s median home value per square foot is, on average, 2.1 times higher than Arizona, Texas, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington’s – California’s very expensive energy costs – the state’s residential electric price is about 1.5 times higher than the competing states – or the Golden State’s oppressive tax burden – California ranks 6th, nationally, in state-local tax burdens – those living in California are hit with a variety of higher bills, which cuts into their bottom line.

California’s 76,400 farms recorded $53.5 billion in sales in 2014, the year Gov. Jerry Brown declared the state in a drought emergency and launched what in 2015 became mandatory conservation for cities and towns. The sales figures are the most recent annual ones released by the state agriculture department.

The value of California merchandise exports fell 5 percent in 2015, the first annual decline since 2009.

Preliminary tax revenue for January stands at a net $167 million less than estimates in Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget, according to a report Wednesday by the Legislature’s non-partisan fiscal analyst.

Personal income increased $42.5 billion, or 0.3 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI) increased $37.8 billion, or 0.3 percent, in December, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) decreased $0.7 billion, or less than 0.1 percent.  In November, personal income increased $44.3 billion, or 0.3 percent, DPI increased $33.4 billion, or 0.2 percent, and PCE increased $59.4 billion, or 0.5 percent, based on revised estimates.

The State of California added 22,700 private sector jobs during the month of January, according to the ADP Regional Employment Report . . .

Gross domestic product, a broad measure of economic output, expanded at a 0.7% seasonally adjusted annualized rate in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday. The economy had advanced 2% in the third quarter and 3.9% in the second quarter.

The 0.1 percent drop matched the median forecast of 84 economists surveyed by Bloomberg and followed a 0.4 percent gain in November, Commerce Department figures showed Friday in Washington. For all of 2015, purchases climbed 2.1 percent, the smallest advance of the current economic expansion.

Wednesday’s losses follow a rough first week for U.S. stocks. The Dow has declined 7.3% so far this year and the S&P 500 has dropped 7.5%, as concerns about global growth flared up and oil prices careened lower.