Economy in Brief

Total sales of light vehicles during November eased 0.8% (-2.1% y/y) to 17.87 million units (SAAR) from a downwardly revised 18.02 million units in October, revised from 18.29 million units according to Autodata. Pacing the decline [...]

The Markit finalized PMI gauges ticked higher in November on balance. The unweighted average moved up to 51.7 in November from 51.5 in October and its average has been steadily rising when calculated over 12 months, six months and [...]

The value of construction put-in-place increased 0.5% during October following little change in September, revised from -0.4%. September's figure also was revised up to 0.5%. October's reading was the highest level of activity since [...]

Industrial sector activity is developing upward momentum. The ISM composite index of factory sector activity rose to 53.2 during November from an unrevised 51.9 in October. It was the highest level since June, and the eighth month [...]

The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that job cut announcements during November declined to 26,936 (-13.0% y/y) following October's fall to 30,740. It was the lowest level of job cut announcements since [...]

Initial claims for jobless insurance jumped to 268,000 (-2.2% y/y) during the week ended November 26 from an unrevised 251,000 in the prior week. Expectations had been for 250,000 claims in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. It was [...]

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that pending home sales improved 0.1% (1.8% y/y) during October following a 1.4% September increase, revised from 1.5%. These sales are reported as an index with 2001=100. The [...]

The Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer Index increased to 57.6 during November and recouped an unrevised October decline to 50.6. The latest was the highest level since January 2015. The figure compared to expectations for [...]