US GDP tracker update - Nomura

Analysts at Nomura offered their GDP tracker update.

Key Quotes:

"The trade balance for January posted a wider trade gap than we expected, suggesting a stronger drag from real net exports in Q1.

Further, net exports of core capital goods were stronger than our expectation.

This implies weaker domestic investment in business equipment in Q1. After rounding, our Q1 real GDP tracking estimate remains unchanged at 1.6% q-o-q saar. Revisions to previous trade data suggest a greater trade deficit in Q4 than the BEA’s estimate implies. Therefore, we lowered our Q4 real GDP tracking estimate by 0.1pp to 2.6% q-o-q saar."