Progress stays on monitor to melt within the first quarter, primarily based on the median nowcast for a set of estimates compiled by CapitalSpectator.com.

Though recession danger remains to be low, output appears set to downshift for a second straight quarter.

Q1 development is presently projected to rise 2.4% (seasonally adjusted annual price), by way of at the moment’s median estimate.

The nowcast compares contrasts with This autumn’s sturdy 3.3% rise, which marks a downshift from Q3’s red-hot 4.9% improve, in line with information revealed by the Bureau of Financial Evaluation.

Though Q1 output nonetheless seems headed for a softer run, the specter of financial contraction stays low for the quick future, primarily based on a number of indicators.

For starters, observe that at the moment’s nowcast for the primary quarter marks a decide up from the .

Further causes for anticipating that development will persist embody the Philly Fed’s ADS Index, which exhibits US financial exercise increasing at simply barely beneath common via Feb. 9.

In the meantime, the Dallas Fed’s Weekly Financial Index via Feb. 9 continues to point out a pick-up in financial exercise relative to final spring, when many economists mistakenly anticipated a recession was close to.

On each counts, the most recent numbers point out low recession danger.

Yesterday’s weaker-than-expected report for January triggered new warnings from some analysts that the US outlook is deteriorating.

However by some accounts, there’s nonetheless no smoking gun for deciding that the financial enlargement has run its course.

“It’s a weak report, however not a elementary shift in client spending,” says Robert Frick, company economist for Navy Federal Credit score Union.

“December was excessive as a consequence of vacation buying, and January noticed drops in these spending classes, plus frigid climate plus an unfavorable seasonal adjustment.

Shopper spending possible received’t be nice this yr, however with actual wage features and growing employment it needs to be a lot to assist hold the financial system increasing.”

An analogous view prevails at Wells Fargo:

“At the same time as we count on spending will reasonable this yr, the January slowdown could overstate the near-term pullback in consumption,” economists on the agency write.

“Households have benefited from an actual earnings tailwind over the previous yr as inflation is slowing greater than wage development.

Whereas the distinctive elements of extra liquidity and quick access to low-cost credit score are tales of the previous within the story of consumption, a still-sturdy labor market ought to result in solely a gradual moderation, fairly than collapse in spending this yr.”

In the meantime, the current recession danger estimate revealed by The US Enterprise Cycle Threat Report (a sister publication of CapitalSpectator.com) stays low, primarily based on information via Feb. 9.

When the Composite Recession Likelihood Index (CRPI), which aggregates indicators from a number of enterprise cycle benchmarks, rises considerably from present ranges it is going to point out elevated danger that an NBRE-defined contraction is brewing.

For now, nonetheless, the potential for a extreme slowdown in financial exercise seems low.