Economy in Brief: March 2021

• Credit card borrowing continues to retreat. • Nonrevolving credit usage slows further. Consumers reduced credit balances further in January. Consumer credit outstanding fell a seasonally adjusted $1.3 billion (-0.3% y/y) during [...]

• 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 [...]