November was an exciting month. The Dow surged past record highs following the election even though the strong dollar is still impacting corporate profitability. US manufacturing shrugged off uncertainties with a stronger than expected results. The ISM manufacturing index rose from October’s 51.9% to 53.2% in November which is higher than their 52.3% estimate. The Commerce Department reported that from July 2016 through September 2016 the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 3.2% which is the fastest rate in two years. The US unemployment rate is still at 4.9% which is close to what economists consider full employment, and US employers have been adding 181,000 jobs a month so far this year, which is solid but down from 229,000 a month in 2015. There are still a lot of uncertainties ahead of us in 2017, but 2016 is ending on a high note.
Bruce Peacock
Vice President of Business Development
The Richmond Group USA