DALLAS, July 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Comerica Bank's
California Economic Activity Index improved in April, increasing
0.7 percentage points to a level of 119.7. April's reading is 36
points, or 43 percent, above the index cyclical low of 84.0. The
index averaged 113.7 points for all of 2014, seven and one-half
points above the average for all of 2013. March's index reading was
119.0.
"The California economy gained
momentum after a soft first quarter. Our California Economic
Activity Index picked up in April after little change over the
previous three months. The state economy is large, diverse and
resilient. Port activity is renormalizing. The high tech sector
remains strong. Real estate markets in Northern California are super tight.
Southern California conditions are
tightening too," said Robert Dye,
Chief Economist at Comerica Bank. "Of course, water resources are a
potentially binding constraint. Drought conditions are hurting the
agricultural economy and may exert an increasing drag on real
estate development."
The California Economic Activity Index consists of eight
variables, as follows: nonfarm payrolls, exports, hotel occupancy
rates, continuing claims for unemployment insurance, housing
starts, national defense spending, home prices, and the
NASDAQ-100-Technology Sector Index (NDXT). All data are seasonally
adjusted, as necessary, and indexed to a base year of 2008. Nominal
values have been converted to constant dollar values. Index levels
are expressed in terms of three-month moving averages.
Comerica Bank, with 103 banking centers in the key California markets of San Francisco and the East Bay, San Jose, Los
Angeles, Orange County,
San Diego, Fresno, Sacramento, Santa
Cruz/Monterey, and the
Inland Empire, is a subsidiary of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:
CMA). Comerica is a financial services company headquartered in
Dallas, Texas, and strategically
aligned into three major business segments: the Business Bank, the
Retail Bank, and Wealth Management. Comerica focuses on
relationships and helping businesses and people be successful. To
find Comerica on Facebook, please visit
www.facebook.com/ComericaCares.
To subscribe to our publications or for questions, contact us at
ComericaEcon@comerica.com. Archives are available at
http://www.comerica.com/economics. Follow us on Twitter:
@Comerica_Econ.
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SOURCE Comerica Bank