Export update

This is an update of a chart I've shown several times before. I originally posted it because there had been a surge in outbound container shipments in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and I thought that presaged a rise in goods exports in general, and that was all good news for the economy. I thought there might be a lag of a month or two between container data and official export data, but now it looks to have been a bit more than that. Exports still seem a bit low given the continuing strength in the container data, so I think that means that we will see ongoing improvement in the export data in the months to come, and that will contribute to stronger GDP data.