US Growth and Business Cycle
Synthesises key growth-related indicators (capex, production, durables, housing, yield-curve and monetary signals) into a cohesive assessment of the current US economic expansion, slowdown or contraction.
Regime Assessment:
- Regime: Expansionary / Risk-Positive
- Regime Confidence Index: Medium Confidence
- Status: Fragile Balance
Why This Regime:
- Dominant drivers include accelerating Capex Intent momentum (1) and a positive Treasury yield spread maintaining its 3-month trend (2).
- Dynamic weighting prioritized Capex Intent due to its Extreme Conviction band and high aggregation weight (1).
- Industrial Production (3) was downweighted due to internal conflict and low confidence, while Durable Goods (4) was downweighted because missing observation data prevented classification.
Alignment & Tensions:
- High-weight signals reinforce an expansionary state, as business demand for durable goods strengthens (1) alongside accommodative neutral rate settings (7).
- Significant tensions exist in the housing sector, where the composite score has deteriorated rapidly from "Expanding" to "Neutral" following sharp declines in housing starts (5).
- Tensions do not overturn the regime call because the core investment and monetary anchors (1)(2) currently outweigh softening residential and industrial data.
Scenario Balance:
- Dominant scenario: Cyclical expansion driven by business investment, conditioned on durable orders maintaining current velocity.
- Primary upside risk: A re-acceleration of industrial production above the 2% threshold with positive confirmers (3).
- Primary downside risk: Housing lead indicators moving from Neutral to "Contracting" if mortgage rates sustain affordability pressure (5).
What Would Change the Regime: