Excluding oil and gas investment, which is particularly volatile, the investment pace grew slightly over the past year. report reflected “strong business investment” as companies responded to the tax overhaul. “Business investment is strong, wages are growing, and disposable income is climbing thanks to tax reform and pro-growth policies.”Analysts were more cautious in drawing conclusions. “Even regardless of the tax plan kicker, we would have seen a pickup in business investment,” said Keith Parker, head of United States equity strategy at UBS. Google’s parent, Alphabet, nearly tripled its first-quarter capital spending to $7.3 billion on real estate and computing capacity and data centers.

Source: New York Times April 30, 2018 21:11 UTC