It has been said, “A recession is when your neighbor loses their job, a depression is when you lose yours.” Well the same could be said for economic growth based on where you live. The US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) produced a chart highlighting GDP growth on a state by state basis.
(source: http://bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/gdp_state/gsp_glance.htm)
As you can see from the chart, the economies of those fastest growing states often look vastly different from the rest of the country’s economy. While the economy of North Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma and other energy and mineral rich state are booming, Washington DC and Alaska have experience negative GDP growth.
This serves to remind us of the diverse economic characteristics throughout the US. Far too often we look at the US as a whole, but maps like these help remind us that thinking only in national terms can cause us to overlook some very important trends happening on a state by state level.
One of those important trends is the expansion and development of the US Oil and Gas industry in recent years. With major discoveries throughout central US, it is causing those economies to boom, and has started to lead to a resurgence in US manufacturing.
That’s all for this week my friends. We continue to be in a seasonally weak part of the year and we will continue to monitor the market closely for any warning signs. For now, we continue to give this bull market the benefit of the doubt.
