Comerica Bank's California Index Improves

DALLAS, March 29, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Comerica Bank's California Economic Activity Index grew by 0.2 percentage points in January to a level of 127.0. January's reading is 43 points, or 51 percent, above the index cyclical low of 84.1. The index averaged 122.4 points for all of 2016, two and three-fifths points above the average for all of 2015. December's index reading was 126.8.

"Our California Economic Activity Index increased in January for the 10^th month in a row. Graphically we can see that the pace of increase has slowed in recent months. Moreover, in January, index components were mixed, with five up and three down. Gainers for the month were nonfarm employment, state exports, defense spending, home prices and the tech stock index. Losers for the month were unemployment insurance claims (inverted), housing starts and hotel occupancy. Job growth is cooling in the state, with the year-over-year gain in January down to 2.1 percent, still above the U.S. average of 1.6 percent for January," said Robert Dye, Chief Economist at Comerica Bank. "We expect to see ongoing moderate growth in the California economy this year supported by increased business investment in technology and a strengthening single-family housing market."

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 locations 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.

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SOURCE Comerica Incorporated

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