Economy in Brief: March 2021

• Leisure & hospitality drives gain in jobs. • Earnings growth remains moderate m/m. • Unemployment rate declines to lowest level since March 2020. As the economy began to reopen more widely after closures due to COVID-19, the job [...]

German order growth is back in gear with total orders rising by 1.4% month-to-month in January. The gain, however, is generated wholly by foreign orders that surged by 4.2% in January after dropping by 3.1% month-to-month in December. [...]

• Exports grow 1%. Imports rise 1.2%. • This report suggests little impact on Q1 GDP forecasts. The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened to $68.2 billion in January from a slight upwardly revised $67 billion deficit in [...]

• Leisure & hospitality drives gain in jobs. • Earnings growth remains moderate m/m. • Unemployment rate declines to lowest level since March 2020. As the economy began to reopen more widely after closures due to COVID-19, the job [...]

A super-fast rise in commodity prices is underway. It should not be a surprise that as the world economy re-opens, commodity prices start to rise to reflect more robust demand conditions. But what has been surprising is the speed and [...]

• Gain in factory orders driven by durable goods. • Shipments continue to strengthen. • Order backlogs & inventories edge higher. Manufacturing activity is strengthening. Factory orders rose 2.6% (2.8% y/y) in January after improving [...]

• • PREVIOUS>>>>>>>>>>Initial jobless insurance claims declined 111,000 in the week ended February 20 to 730,000 from 841,000 in the prior week PREVIOUS>>>>>>>Continuing claims for regular state unemployment insurance fell to 4.419 [...]

The overall EMU unemployment rate was steady in January, off peak, but still elevated. In January of the early members, nine have reported unemployment rates for January. Of those nine, four of them have lower unemployment rates. [...]