The Atlanta Fed’s real-time GDP estimate jumped to 10 percent on Monday following better than expected data on manufacturing and construction spending.
The GDPNow tracker takes economic data points as they’re released and plugs them into a formula that attempts to project GDP for the current quarter. It can be very volatile and has had a tough time estimating growth as the economy has been buffeted by the pandemic and huge government spending programs aimed at boosting the economy.
The GDPNow score has skyrocketed over the past month. The initial read on January 29 5.2 percent. It has been boosted by economic reports that have consistently show the economy is growing at a much faster rate than expected.
Consumer spending and spending on business equipment are both much higher than expected. Residential investment is running high as well, boosted by demand for single-family homes.