Trickle-down economics still doesn’t work

The Bureau of Economic Analysis elevated its estimate of third quarter GDP from 2.9% to 3.2% last week. They intend the decimal points to give an illusion of accuracy when they know there is a lot of slack in the numbers. Corporate profits rose in the third quarter on a year-over-year basis 2.8%, the first rise in profits in five quarters.

Tossed with expectations about Trump’s spending and tax cuts we should have a salad that promises improving health for the economy. It should end business cycles and bear markets, except for the fact that we have seen similar scenarios before. Mainstream economists gathered around the casket of the business cycle in the late 1990s, just before the recession of 2001. Bear markets are wedded to recessions for the most part, so the death of business cycles would mean the death of bears, too.

If that sounds too good to be true, then join me in looking into the numbers a little more closely. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) explains the jump in GDP this way:

The increase in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), exports, private inventory investment, and federal government spending, that were partly offset by negative contributions from residential fixed investment and state and local government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased...

Considering job gains, wage increases and low debt levels, Bloomberg quoted Russell Price, senior economist at Ameriprise Financial Inc. in Detroit on the topic:

Growth is going to remain heavily reliant on the consumer, but consumers are in very good position to lead that charge...Overall, it’s an encouraging sign for the path ahead.

Goldman Sachs rains on Trump honeymoon

Traditionally, a new president enjoys a “honeymoon” period during his first few months in office but it seems that Goldman Sachs doesn’t like tradition. The investment bank tried to puncture the euphoria in the stock market over Donald Trump’s victory by issuing a sober forecast of what the US can expect from his regime next year. Their conclusion:

The prediction comes as part of the team’s annual not about the top ten market themes for 2017. Theme No. 1: Utter disappointment.

Actually, the theme was closer to “more of the same.” GS thinks stocks are pricey already and the economy won’t improve enough for profits to relieve some of the altitude in valuations. They are probably right and things might actually get worse if we get the long overdue recession.