There's an uninformed New York Times article today that cites useless Old Wall forecasting sources saying the "divergence" between “soft data” like consumer confidence and “hard data” like retail sales is "stunning."
How's this for "hard" data?
Corporate Profits ramped to +9.3% year-over-year. Recall this TREND of profits #accelerating comes after 5 consecutive quarters of negative year-over-year profit growth.
Beyond corporate profits, equally "stunning" is the claim that seemingly hard data hasn't been accelerating.
- Year-over-year Retail Sales hit the highest level since March 2012.
- Durable Goods +5% year-over-year growth; Ex-Aircraft & Defense +3.4% year-over-year growth
- Capex +2.7% year-over-year growth in FEB (up y/y for 3 months in a row, after a 2yr long #recession)
- US Home Prices (Case/Shiller) +0.9% month-over-month and +5.7% year-over-year = 3 year high
