The sharp drop in this economic data is one of quite a few that have been surfacing over the past several weeks (which I've written about on my Blog) and may be forecasting much more weakness to come in the overall economy during the upcoming weeks/months.
Industrial Production data also released today also shows this type of sharp drop, as shown on the graph below. The overall trend is down and has been for several years...this can't be blamed on the hurricane.
Weakening demand equals weakening data...if the demand is not there, no amount of Central Bank money printing is going to change economic data...simple math.
