Tuesday, January 24, 2023

US monthly GDP proxy starts to fall

 My US QCI (a monthly GDP proxy; QCI  stands for "Quick Coinciding Index".  Yeah, I know --- as if there isn't already enough jargon in economics!)  has started to fall.  As you can see, in the chart below, it is very well correlated with GDP, though it is more volatile.  Data through December for the QCI; through QIII  for GDP.  

Remember, economies are like tankers; even if you turn off the engines it takes a tanker 8 kilometres and 20 minutes to come to a stop.  Economies respond with a long, and variable, lag to rising interest rates.  This time a year ago, the Fed Funds rate was zero.  Now it's 4.3%.  Expect further declines in the US economy.  In March last year, the QCI was rising at an annualised rate of 13% per month; now it's falling by an annualised rate of 1%, which appears to be accelerating.  What's the bet that by June, the Fed will have stopped raising rates?  But they'll prolly wait too long to cut rates.  Alas.




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