March was not a good month for the U.S. economy. The private forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers provides a measure that tracks gross domestic product on a monthly basis. As report in the Wall Street Journal, the forecaster recently reported that its monthly estimate for gross domestic product declined by an inflation adjusted one percent in March, the largest monthly drop since December two thousand and eight when the U.S. economy was in recession.
Prior months had hardly been fabulous. The U.S. economy shrank zero point four percent in December, grew just zero point one percent in January, and expanded zero point three percent on a monthly basis in February. The good news is that the economic pothole hit in March doesn’t necessarily portend significantly economic weakness going forward. March’s contraction reflected a decline in net exports related to the resolution of labor disputes and West Coast ports.
That produced a flood of imported merchandise at U.S. stores and homes. For its part, the U.S. Commerce Department has estimated that the U.S. economy expanded by just zero point two percent on an annualized basis during the first quarter, but most economists expect that estimate to be revised into negative territory.
