Recent Updates
- Korea: GDP (Q4), PPI (Dec)
- New Zealand: Performance of Service Index, Composite PMI (Dec)
- Canada: Investment in Building Construction (Nov)
- Canada Regional: Investment in Building Construction by Province (Nov)
- Croatia: Core CPI (Dec)
- Tajikistan: Monetary Aggregates (Dec)
- Macedonia: CPI (Dec)
- Turkey: Non-Domestic PPI (Dec)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
Delay in Release
of Data for Construction, MSIO, Intl Trade, Wholesale Trade, Monthly Treasury, Retail Sales, Business Sales & Inventories, and Housing Starts Due to Lapse in Federal Government Funding.
U.K. Retail Sales Begin to Lose Momentum
U.K. retail sales fell by a sharp 1% in December...
Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index Rebounds; Pricing Pressure Eases
The Philadelphia Fed reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index increased to 17.0 during January...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Slip
Initial claims for jobless insurance eased to 213,000 (-2.6% y/y) during the week ended January 12...
Passenger Car Registrations Hold to Low Ground in Europe
Passenger car registrations in Europe fell on a year-over-year comparison for the fourth consecutive months in December...
by Tom Moeller April 29, 2005
The April Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer gave back more than half of the prior month's 6.5 point jump. Nevertheless, the level of 65.6 was above Consensus expectations for 62.5 and the average level so far this year is up from 2004.
The employment index gave back less than half the prior month's surge. During the last ten years there has been a 78% correlation between the level of the employment index and the three month change in factory sector employment. The new orders and the production indexes fell a bit harder.
The index of prices paid fell again to the lowest level since late 2003. During the last ten years there has been an 86% correlation between the Chicago price index and the three month change in the "core" intermediate goods PPI.
| Chicago Purchasing Managers Index, SA | April | March | April '04 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Barometer | 65.6 | 69.2 | 64.2 | 62.9 | 54.6 | 52.8 |
| New Orders | 71.0 | 76.7 | 65.8 | 67.0 | 58.0 | 56.2 |
| Prices Paid | 66.1 | 68.2 | 75.5 | 80.1 | 55.8 | 56.9 |
