Foreign Trade Has Turned the Corner, Just Like the Domestic Economy
The data on foreign trade show both imports and exports looking up.
This pattern–a small upturn after a huge decline–is present is lots of current data, including
Retail sales
Real consumer spending
Car sales
Consumer confidence
Industrial production
Housing starts
Building permits
New home sales
Existing home sales
Purchasing managers index
Capital goods orders
Total business sales
Stock market
Real consumer spending
Car sales
Consumer confidence
Industrial production
Housing starts
Building permits
New home sales
Existing home sales
Purchasing managers index
Capital goods orders
Total business sales
Stock market
None of these has regained its pre-recession peak, so they all resemble the foreign trade chart above. I always caution against interpreting one month's data as a new trend, but when all the data are turning up for the last month, then it sure as heck is a new trend. The recession is over. Now our goal is to regain the lost ground. And to figure out how to shift our businesses from recession-mode to recovery mode.
