Last week’s economic news showed that business confidence and activity are still improving. Notably, the housing market continues to show significant demand, although it’s now struggling with low inventory—a problem of success. Durable goods orders also ratified the continuing growth in the manufacturing and industrial sectors.

I don’t read too many books where I find myself repeatedly stopping to underline something while thinking I didn’t know that! There are even fewer that I keep on my shelf in order to reference the list of sources in the back. Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization, by Parag Khanna, earns both of those distinctions.

It also changed how I look at the world.

Today’s guest post is from Chad LaFauci, director of real assets at Commonwealth.

At the end of the month, the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) will introduce a new Real Estate sector—the first time a sector has been added since the system’s inception in 1999.

Last week’s economic data showed that business confidence and activity continue to improve. Plus, housing sentiment and activity continue to expand, while manufacturing and even mining have started to grow again. Overall, last week’s results demonstrate that the weakest part of the recovery—private business—continues to strengthen.

Today’s post comes from guest contributor Eduardo Ciuffo, a Commonwealth investment research analyst focused on real assets.

Today’s post is by guest contributor Peter Essele, a portfolio manager on Commonwealth’s Preferred Portfolio Services^® Select platform.

"Does the high level of fund flows into the most popular indices make them perform better simply due to supply/demand 101?"

Last week’s limited economic data showed that consumers may be taking a break from spending, at least for the moment. Given a smaller-than-expected bounce back in confidence and a disappointing retail sales report, we need to keep an eye on whether consumer spending will continue to drive economic growth.

A note for my regular readers: I am taking the next two weeks off to spend time with my family. I won't be totally out of touch—I will still write the Monday Update—but I am turning the blog over to some of my colleagues so you can see what great work they do. For the next two weeks, you'll find new posts here on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; we will return to the usual daily schedule on Monday, August 29. Until then, take care! — Brad

Yesterday we talked about productivity and growth, with a sidelight on how recent low levels of growth are largely due to low business investment. Although that is certainly true, there’s more to the story.

Let’s take a deeper look at where growth has come from during this recovery and what that might mean for the future.

Words are funny. We talk about pros and cons, and everyone has heard the line about the opposite of progress being Congress. But what is the opposite of productivity? Surely it isn’t conductivity.

Whatever you call it, what we’re seeing in the economy is, in many ways, the opposite of productivity growth.