Economy in Brief: October 2020

The National Association for Business Economics retained its projection for 3.6% growth in real GDP during 2021. This follows a record recession this year, with GDP expected to contract 4.3%, versus the prior forecast of a 5.9% [...]

• Private service-sector hiring slows. • Earnings growth eases. • Jobless rate declines to six-month low. Nonfarm payroll employment increased 661,000 during September (-6.4% y/y) after rising 1.489 million in August, revised from [...]

• Factory orders growth decelerated to 0.7% in August. • Shipments down to 0.3%. • Order backlogs continue to get filled while inventories were unchanged. Manufacturers' orders slowed more than expected in August growing just 0.7% [...]

• Private service-sector hiring slows. • Earnings growth eases. • Jobless rate declines to six-month low. Nonfarm payroll employment increased 661,000 during September (-6.4% y/y) after rising 1.489 million in August, revised from [...]

• Monthly increases spread across product lines. The Autodata Corporation reported that sales of light vehicles rose 7.5% during September (-4.7% y/y) to 16.36 million units (SAAR) from 15.22 million in August. September sales were [...]

Japan's unemployment rate has risen for the second month in a row. The EMU unemployment rate has risen for five months in a row. The spread of infection has played a role in this. Japan had its peak for infections early in August and [...]

September's ADP employment report showed a gain of 749,000, following gains of 481,000 in August and 216,000 in July. While the focus of this month's report is on the large September's gain, the bigger issue is why ADP did not revise [...]

• Factory sector activity backpedals modestly. • Components are mixed. • Price index continues to increase. The recent improvement in factory sector activity moderated last month. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported [...]