Note from dshort: This commentary has been updated to include the February data for Real Retail Sales.
Official recession calls are the responsibility of the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee, which is understandably vague about the specific indicators on which they base their decisions. This committee statement is about as close as they get to identifying their method.
There is, however, a general belief that there are four big indicators that the committee weighs heavily in their cycle identification process. They are:
- Industrial Production
- Real Personal Income (excluding Transfer Receipts)
- Nonfarm Employment
- Real Retail Sales
The Latest on Real Retail Sales
Retail Sales fell again in February, down 0.58%, the third month of decline and substantially below estimates. The inflation-adjusted data, using the seasonally-adjusted Consumer Price Index, came in even worse at -0.80%. The chart below gives us a close look at the monthly data points in this series since 2009. I've included a linear regression to help us identify the trend.
The decline in Real Retail Sales that coincided with last winter's severe weather is clearly illustrated in the chart above. The pattern of the past three months looks even worse.
Will spring bring a sales recovery? Stay tuned!
The Generic Big Four
The chart and table below illustrate the performance of the generic Big Four with an overlay of a simple average of the four since the end of the Great Recession. The data points show the cumulative percent change from a zero starting point for June 2009. We now have three indicator updates for the 68th month following the recession. The Big Four Average is (gray line below).
Current Assessment and Outlook
The overall picture of the U.S. economy had been one of slow recovery from the Great Recession with a clearly documented contraction during the winter of 2013-2014, as reflected in last year's GDP for Q1 of last year. In April we'll get our first peak at Q1 2015 GDP. Preliminary data suggests that we'll see renewed finger pointing at the weather. The Big Four average in recent months suggests that the economy remains near stall speed.
