US' annualized DFD growth in 2015 averages out at 2.7%

There is a robust, enduring underlying growth trend in US. Annualised DFD growth in 2015 averages out at 2.7%, or 3.3% if we focus solely on the past six months, when the weather was more favourable. 

Together with the 2014 average of 3.1%, the 2015 outcome implies that the past two years have seen considerably stronger underlying growth versus the 2011-13 period, when annualised DFD growth was running at just 1.5%.

"Of the components of DFD, the standout has been consumption. Initially concentrated in durable and non-durable purchases, consumption momentum broadened into the services sector through 2014-15, with the average quarterly gain over that period twice what it was during 2011-13", says Westpac. 

To the extent that services are generally domestically produced and more labour intensive than goods, this trend is of great import to the US' economic health.