For the first three months of this year, registrations for new cars sold exceeded 500,000, a 3.8 percent improvement over the first quarter of 2015, marking the 22nd consecutive year-over-year increase in quarterly registrations.
The Economic Dashboard is the result of a partnership between the Economic Vitality Corp. and the California Business Roundtable. Major sponsors are San Luis Obispo Partners in Education, a program of the San Luis Obispo County Office of Education, and Dignity Health of the Central Coast.
The Institute for Supply Management on Monday said its index of manufacturing activity fell to 50.8 in April from 51.8 in March. For a second straight month, however, the measure remained above 50, the threshold that divides expansion from contraction.
In the fourth of a series of releases based on its annual surveys, 27 percent of respondents thought the economy will show improvement over the next six months versus 50 percent who answered the question optimistically two years ago. Another 21 percent in this year’s survey believe the economy will be worse in six months against only 9 percent who felt that way in 2014.
The slow price gains were accompanied by rising incomes and a savings rate that matched the highest level since 2012, suggesting caution on the part of consumers despite a robust labor market.
Industrial production—a broad gauge of output across U.S. factories, mines and power plants—decreased a seasonally adjusted 0.6% in March from the prior month, the Federal Reserve said Friday. Output has fallen for six of the past seven months. From a year earlier, industrial production decreased 2% in March. Manufacturing output, the largest component of the index, fell 0.3% in March.
U.S. consumer prices rose in March for the first time in four months, but the mild gain underscores that only modest inflation pressures exist in the economy.
However, on one metric the employment situation remains stubborn: long-term unemployment. The share of unemployed persons stuck without a job for 27 weeks or longer is 28 percent, as opposed to 19 percent pre-recession. That is down somewhat from 37 percent when the economy was at peak unemployment, but still worryingly high.
The fourth quarter’s slowdown was less severe than previously estimated but corporate profits fell, showing the economy entered 2016 on uneven footing.
A key measure of U.S. manufacturing health tipped back into decline last month, evidence that headwinds from weak global growth, low oil prices and financial volatility are weighing on company spending.
Personal-income growth across the U.S. last year reflected broader economic trends, with construction and the service-sector propelling earnings, especially in the Southeast and along the West Coast. Crashing commodity prices, meanwhile, were a drag in states with big farming or energy sectors.
Californians on average saw their personal income increase 6.3 percent last year compared to 2014, the largest increase of any state, according to a new report Thursday from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
In California’s 68 largest cities, violent crime jumped 11 percent in the first six months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. Among major U.S. cities, three California cities saw the largest increase in property crime in the country.
The State of California added 29,200 private sector jobs during the month of February
The trade gap expanded 2.2% from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted $45.68 billion, the Commerce Department said Friday. That was wider than the deficit of $44.0 billion expected by economists The Wall Street Journal surveyed.