According to Las Vegas, the US economy is doing great
Las Vegas air traffic is the simplest argument yet that the US economy isn't being brought down by the rest of the world.
This chart, which comes to us from Neil Dutta at Renaissance Macro, shows that air traffic for domestic passengers in Las Vegas is up a healthy 7% this year while international travel is down over the prior year.
Dutta, we'd note, cautioned that ultimately there isn't a ton to conclude from this chart.
Las Vegas is, after all, not a particularly pleasant place to be during the hot summer months. Additionally, the strong US dollar is not going to make travel into the US super attractive for many international travelers.
But this chart at least presents us with an offbeat way to gauge whether the US economy really is staying above the fray as China and emerging markets see growth slow. And so far, the US appears to be holding up.
Tuesday's economic data - which showed a clear slowdown in US manufacturing - might argue that the world's largest economy isn't immune to the current global situation.
However, those who believe the US will continue to be the best house on a bad block point to the fact that the 88% of the US economy that isn't manufacturing, notably the US consumer, is doing just fine.
