It’s time to discuss the R-word. The R-word is the economic equivalent of those
other “letter defined” words that you cannot say. That’s because talking about the R-word is
unpleasant, distasteful and is not suitable for speculation in esteemed
economic circles.
That being stated, it’s beginning to feel a little
R-wordy. I say feel because you can’t
really see an R-word coming and neither can you hear it. It invades the economy like a bad cold virus.
It does its work in secret, much below the radar, until it becomes burdensome
to everyone.
When R-words occur everyone is so surprised. How could this have happened? Why didn’t anyone see this coming? But you seldom do. R-words actually begin
months before they are discovered. They are similar to cheating lovers suddenly
being revealed. Again there is much shock, outrage, and despair, when an R-word
is uncovered.
So R-words are only felt, sensed, and detected by intuition
before their arrival. And it feels very
R-wordy right now. Q1 GDP is currently
estimated at negative 0.7%. Because the
technical definition of the R-word is two consecutive quarters of negative
growth, if Q2 GDP is negative, we have an R-word. Provided Q2 is again just slightly negative
and growth resumes in Q3, it would be one of the weakest R-words on
record.
 |
| Just heard someone say the R-word! |
If this is the bottom of the economic cycle and the economy
began growing again, this would be a good thing. However, there is a psychological element to
R-words and headlines such as “U.S. Economy Goes Into (R-word)” could cause
disruptions in consumer spending and the stock market.
Some economists claim weak Q1 GDP was a result of bad
weather and the West Coast Port strike.
These had an impact but not as much as you might think. The biggest impact of the weather was in the
Northeast and it did not impact manufacturing much, unlike last year’s Polar
Vortex. In addition, economic data from
the period during the strike show that the effect was limited in duration. Other data suggest the economy had already
started to slow down at the beginning of year and these addition factors
hastened its decent.
Therefore Q2 economic growth becomes critical. How’s it looking? In a word, tenuous. Current data on Retail and Wholesale Sales,
Factory and Durable Goods Orders, Wholesale Inventories, Export Sales Growth
and Import Prices are all flashing red. (To see the graphs and detailed
explanation, click link at the end). Of
course there are other indicators, The Conference Board Leading Economic Index
for one, that indicate there will be no R-word this year. This is not an unusual occurrence, it remains
a strange economic environment and some indicators have been inconsistent or
unreliable since the Great Recession (word is permissible in the past tense
only).
To try to figure this out, I called economist Pat. I believe economist Pat is a brilliant
economist because he and I almost always agree on almost everything. I remember calling Pat in December of 2007
because I was feeling R-wordy and he said he was feeling it also – and that
time we turned out to be correct.
So what does economist Pat say? He believes Q2 GDP will come in between 1-2%
positive. Not a great quarter, but not that
close to an R-word.
The Economic Cycle Research Institute’s (ECRI) Weekly Leading
Growth Index also says no R-word. It
crossed into negative territory last October, bottomed out between January and
March, but now due to solid growth since then, is well in positive territory.
So now I do feel much better, but I still don’t feel that
great ……
This post first appeared on the FTR website. FTR is the leader in analyzing and forecasting the commercial transportation industry. For more information on FTR reports and services, please click here.)
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