From Marketwatch
A measure of economic activity in each of the 50 states shows that the ones most reliant on the energy industry are suffering, while most of the U.S. is seeing solid growth.
The Philadelphia Fed’s state coincident indexes for April, show 42 states with gains, seven with declines, and one — Indiana — unchanged, compared with their levels from January. A coincident index is set to the trend of its gross domestic product, using variables on jobs, hours worked in manufacturing, the unemployment rate and real wages. In the 12 months to April, the U.S. index grew by 3.1%, which is stronger than what GDP data over the same period suggests. (The map shows growth over three months.)
What binds the seven states in decline is their exposure to the hard-hit energy sector. North Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska, Iowa, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania all are exposed to the industry through either fracking, conventional drilling, refining, or in Iowa’s case, ethanol.
A separate report from the New York Fed released Tuesday found auto and mortgage delinquencies rising in energy regions.
That said, the nation’s largest oil producer, Texas, has solid growth.
The price of oil has collapsed on a combination of U.S. supplies and cooling international demand, though crude has shot higher from the lows of 2016.
By contrast, three of the fastest-growing states, Florida, Georgia and Nevada, all were ravaged by the housing crisis. They’re recovering, with house prices for all three states growing above the national rate, according to separate data released Wednesday by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Comments