GDPNow Nowcast Down, New Orders Up

First the bad news: The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth is 1.8% (at a seasonally adjusted annual rate), down from 2.4% on May 18. The Atlanta Fed’s “nowcast” for Q2 gross private domestic investment growth decreased from -1.8% to -4.8%, reflecting weak housing indicators.

The good news is that new orders for manufactured durable goods increased 0.4% during April to another record high. Nondefense new orders for capital goods in April increased 0.4%, also to a new record high. This series is a good indicator of business capital spending on equipment in GDP.