Recent Updates
- US: Intl Investment Position (Q2), Advance Trade & Inventories (Aug)
- Albania: Tourism, Monthly Inflation Expectations, Public Finance (Aug)
- US: Pending Home Sales Index (Aug)
- Brazil: PPI (Aug)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Goods Trade Deficit Continues to Narrow in August
The advance estimate of the U.S. international trade deficit in goods narrowed to $87.3 billion in August...
U.S. Mortgage Applications Reverse Prior Week's Increase
Mortgage applications fell 3.7% w/w (-65.3% y/y) in the week ended September 23...
U.S. Consumer Confidence Rises in September; Highest Since April
The Conference Board U.S. Consumer Confidence Index rose 4.2% (-1.6% y/y) to 108.0 in September...
U.S. New Home Sales Rebound in August
New single-family home sales during August rose 28.8% (-0.1% y/y) to 685,000...
U.S. Durable Goods Orders Fall in August
Activity in the factory sector remains firm, despite a 0.2% decline...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller April 4, 2013
The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that 49,225 job cuts were announced during March. This latest level was down m/m but remained up from the the recovery low of 32,239 reached last August. Job cuts declined m/m in the entertainment, financial, automotive, chemical, electronics and media industries.
During the last ten years there has been a 67% correlation between the three-month moving average of announced job cuts and the three-month change in payroll employment. Job cut announcements differ from layoffs. Many are achieved through attrition, early retirement or just never occur.
Challenger also samples firms' hiring plans and they dropped by one-third versus last year.
The Challenger figures are available in Haver's SURVEYS database.
Unconventional Monetary Policy and the Dollar from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco is available here.
| Challenger, Gray & Christmas | Mar | Feb | Jan | Y/Y% | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Announced Job Cuts | 49,255 | 55,356 | 40,430 | 30.0 | 523,362 | 606,082 | 529,973 |
| Announced Hiring Plans | 8,115 | 92,372 | 60,585 | 34.5 | 630,447 | 537,572 | 402,638 |
