Fannie Mae released its April Economic and Housing Outlook today revealing that the slow growth pattern in the first quarter of 2014 is expected to gain momentum in the second quarter. The increase is expected to come from stepped up government spending and a diminishing drag from a slowdown in inventory stockpiling. Fannie Mae did downgrade their housing forecast slightly due to a lackluster sales picture, but the slowdown could be temporary. A highlight of the 2014 stats: +2.7% growth, +2.8% consumer spending,1.05 million housing starts.
A quarterly survey by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) revealed that the harsh winter weather hurt sales, but business economists expect growth to improve in the coming months. NABE said that it sees that the economy will grow at a greater than 2% pace over the next year. 43% of respondents said that they expect that job growth in the next six months will increase, up from 37% in the fourth quarter.
Corporate earnings season is well underway as companies across the nation report their quarterly numbers. Of the nearly 90 S&P 500 companies that have reported thus far, 72% have beaten analyst' profit estimates. However, analysts did cut their expectations considerably in recent months due to the harsh weather in the beginning of the year. More than 150 companies in the S&P 500 Index will report earnings this week.
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