Monetary Base Contracts Third Time in Four Months

(Negative) In March 2016, the monetary base was $3.911 trillion. This was the fourth month in a row that the monetary base below $4 trillion. Compared with one year ago, the monetary base decreased 3.8 percent. It has contracted thethree of the last four months. As a result, the annual rate of change in the monetary base contracted for the first time since June 1950. This is a significant event and uncharted territory for almost everyone in business today. It is likely that will cause some surprising shifts in economics data.

You can see how the monetary base leads various machine tool sales and consumption data as well as primary plastics processing equipment at our monetary page.