The Conference Board Economics Watch^® United States View

A drop in overall economic activity, along with slowing employment and confidence gains, led to some concern about the strength of the economy going into the second half of 2015. Moreover, the outlook for the second quarter shows a weaker rebound from the first quarter than last year. While consumer spending is poised to improve, business investment has been, and very likely will remain, on a soft trajectory. Weak investment and slow productivity growth are the weakest spots in the overall picture. Tightening labor market, rising wage pressure, no change in pricing power, slow global growth, and weak productivity exert downward pressure on corporate profits.