Economy in Brief: May 2012

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its index of total mortgage applications nudged up 0.1% w/w to 698.2 (52.2% y/y). That left the average level in April down 0.9% from March and down 10.9% from the February high. [...]

Job growth hit a soft-spot last month. Private sector payrolls rose 119,000 as reported by the payroll processor Automatic Data Processing (ADP) and economic consultants Macroeconomic Advisers. A 180,000 gain had been expected. The [...]

Sales of light motor vehicles during April remained near the four-year high. Unit vehicle sales edged up 0.3% m/m to 14.42M (AR), according to Autodata Corporation. That sales rate was 9.5% higher than last April and remained nearly [...]

Estimates of manufacturing activity in April by purchasing managers in the United States, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom were released today. The majority of those in the United States and Canada were increasingly optimistic. [...]

The value of construction put-in-place ticked 0.1% higher during March following a 1.4% February decline, initially reported as -1.1%. Consensus expectations had been for a 0.4% rise. Private sector spending increased 0.7% (11.5% y/y) [...]

Factory sector activity continued on the mend last month. The April ISM Composite Index of industrial sector activity rose to 54.8 from an unrevised 53.4 in March. The gain compared to Consensus expectations for a slip to 53.0. The [...]

For drivers of motor vehicles, fuel prices are finally providing some relief. The pump price of regular gasoline fell four cents last week to $3.83 per gallon, down for the fourth straight week. Haver Analytics' seasonally-adjusted [...]