1.7% Q/Q), residential investment (11.5% Q/Q from 10.9% Q/Q) and government consumption (-4.4% Q/Q from -4.6% Q/Q) were slightly upwardly revised. And the drag from net-exports was somewhat smaller. The positive contribution from change in inventories was slightly lower than initially estimated. The revisions were very limited and do not alter our view from the first estimate. While the headline figure is strong, showing the strongest pace of growth in 1.5 years, the details are less encouraging with the biggest contribution coming from change in inventories.
In February, the Chicago PMI gathered pace, rising to the highest level in almost one year. The Chicago PMI index jumped from 60.2 to 64.0, while only a marginal increase was expected. Also the details are encouraging as production (67.8 from 63.8), new orders (69.2 from 63.6), employment (64.2 from 54.7) and order backlogs (53.6 from 48.3) increased significantly. Inventories (49.6 from 51.6) and supplier deliveries (57.7 from 61.5) on the contrary, fell back slightly. Upward price pressures accelerated with prices paid increasing from 62.4 to 65.5. Over the previous months, the Chicago PMI hovered broadly sideways, but this pick up is an encouraging sign and suggest that the manufacturing sector is gathering further pace.