Economy in Brief: April 2020

French retail sales fall 24% Record fall in Aussie consumer confidence Canada's GDP falls 9% in March U.S. data plunge: retail sales -8.7%, Empire State index -78.2, IP -5.4% The global rout is on! Tally… HALT! I can write about [...]

• Weakness in housing market is stark. • Few people across regions are looking to buy. The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo plummeted 58.3% (-52.4% y/y) to 30 in April from 72 [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its Mortgage Loan Application Index rose 7.3% (67.9% y/y) in the week ended April 10 after the prior week's 17.9% decline. Applications for refinancing increased 10.1% w/w (192.0% y/y) [...]

• Industrial production fell 5.4% in March led by a 6.3% drop in manufacturing output. • These are the largest single monthly declines in these measures since September 1945, as wartime production ended. • Durable goods output dropped [...]

Total business inventories fell 0.4% m/m (-0.1% y/y) in February, in line with expectations, following a downwardly revised 0.3% m/m decline in January. The anticipated figure is from the Informa Global Markets survey. Business sales [...]

• Consumers stay home and do without most new products. • Apparel & furniture sales are notably hard hit. Total retail sales including food service establishments plunged 8.7% (-6.2% y/y) during March after weakening 0.4% in February, [...]

The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions collapsed to -78.2 in April from -21.5 in March. The April reading was the lowest on record, by far surpassing the previous low of -34.3 reached during the Great [...]

• Consumers stay home and do without most new products. • Apparel & furniture sales are notably hard hit. Total retail sales including food service establishments plunged 8.7% (-6.2% y/y) during March after weakening 0.4% in February, [...]