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mahatmakanejeeves

(64,396 posts)
Wed Apr 23, 2025, 08:49 PM 8 hrs ago

US economic output hits 16-month low in April, expectations crater

Yahoo Finance
US economic output hits 16-month low in April, expectations crater

Josh Schafer, Myles Udland
Wed, April 23, 2025 at 11:30 AM EDT
3 min read

US economic activity continued to sink this month amid uncertainty around tariff policy.

New data from S&P Global out Wednesday showed its flash composite PMI output index, which captures activity in the services and manufacturing sectors, fell to 51.2 in April, hitting its lowest level in 16 months.

Manufacturing activity rose to 50.7, up from 50.2 in March, while services activity fell to 51.4 from 54.4. Readings above 50 indicate an expansion in activity in the sector; readings below 50 indicate contraction.

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US economic output hits 16-month low in April, expectations crater (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves 8 hrs ago OP
Such a surprise! The whole world now hates America and wants no goods/service therefrom and some of us... dutch777 7 hrs ago #1
More winning orangecrush 5 hrs ago #2
Sentiment fell sharply. Prices rose at the sharpest rate for just over a year. Lots of other bad recent surveys progree 1 hr ago #3

dutch777

(4,297 posts)
1. Such a surprise! The whole world now hates America and wants no goods/service therefrom and some of us...
Wed Apr 23, 2025, 10:00 PM
7 hrs ago

...who even live here are boycotting everything we can to send a message Trump, Lutnick, Navarro et. al. thought they could tariff everyone and there would be no meaningful blowback. You may be able to brow beat governments, but when ALL the little guys foreign and domestic say FU to your goods/services and you are a consumer driven economy, you be f^^^ed!

progree

(11,834 posts)
3. Sentiment fell sharply. Prices rose at the sharpest rate for just over a year. Lots of other bad recent surveys
Thu Apr 24, 2025, 03:16 AM
1 hr ago
Sentiment about the year ahead fell sharply, reaching the lowest level since July 2022 and the second-lowest since September 2020.

Meanwhile, prices charged for goods and services "rose at the sharpest rate for just over a year," . . . Manufactured goods saw an "especially steep increase," associated with higher tariffs.

Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence. "At the same time, price pressures intensified, creating a headache for a central bank which is coming under increasing pressure to shore up a weakening economy just as inflation looks set to rise."

Williamson added that confidence about business conditions in the year ahead has deteriorated, "largely thanks to growing concerns about the impact of recent government policy announcements."


(Then it discusses other recent surveys, e.g. Richmond Federal Reserve's survey of manufacturing, and the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's nonmanufacturing business outlook survey, and the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's manufacturing business outlook survey, all of which were at best dismal)

Powell said this week: "Businesses and households are saying in surveys that they are experiencing incredibly high uncertainty," (presumably "Powell" is Fed Chair Jerome Powell )
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