OEI Continues Steady Decline, But Still Up, Year Over Year

The Odessa Economic Index (OEI) continued its more or less steady decline from July 2019 to August 2019, ending up 267.7. However, according to West Texas economist Karr Ingham, the OEI registered an increase from the August 2018 metric of 254.8.

The main reason for the decline is, of course, oil — Ingham pointed out that the Texas Permian Basin Petroleum Index has been “in a state of earnest decline” since its peak in October 2018. Other economic indicators — general spending growth, auto spending and construction indicators — were also down. Still, home sales continued putting up record numbers through August 2019, totaling 1,168.

Ingham’s forecast was that the August decline could represent a general economic contraction, even as the numbers overall do remain high. However, the economy could be rolling over from expansion to contraction, “meaning the index will likely continue to go down in the months ahead,” he said.

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