As my senior USA economic analyst, Christian Drake, put it:
“Ahh the warm green glow of “soft” data… which just so happens to have a sneaking tendency to lead the “hard” data.”
Post a big US Consumer Confidence reading of 114.8 yesterday (new high vs. 111.6 in January), the February data is officially en fuego as headline ISM Manufacturing and New Orders rise to 31 month and 39 month highs, respectively.
Sales backlogs, meanwhile, saw their biggest sequential increase in 49 months, rising +7.5 points to their highest level in 3 years. This company capital expenditure “plans” chart is eye-popping.
