Economy in Brief: June 2015

The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that job cut announcements during May fell to 41,034 (-22.5% y/y) and reversed part of April's unrevised increase to 61,582. Layoffs declined in the energy, [...]

The emerging market economies' consolidated PMI fell to 50.7 in May from 51.3 in April, dropping it to a 6th percentile standing in its historic queue of data since 2010. The overall reading's percentile standing is at 6.2% and is [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance claims fell to 276,000 during the week ended May 30 following a rise to 284,000 in the prior week, initially reported as 282,000. The four week moving average rose to 274,750, the highest [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index declined 7.6% last week (+6.2% y/y), down for the sixth straight week. Refinance applications retrenched 11.5% (-1.2% y/y) to the lowest level since [...]

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Business declined to 55.7 during May from an unrevised 57.8 in April. The latest figure was the lowest since April of last year and fell short of [...]

The U.S. foreign trade deficit in goods and services narrowed to $40.9 billion during April following a surge to $50.6 billion in March, revised from $51.4 billion. A deficit of $44.1 billion had been expected in the Action Economics [...]

The May EMU finalized PMI fell to 53.6 from 53.9 in April. Germany, Italy and Spain lost momentum. Only France showed improvement of its total PMI in May. The EMU has a queue standing of its overall PMI gauge in the 68th percentile in [...]

The ADP/Moody's National Employment Report indicated that nonfarm private sector payrolls increased 201,000 during May following a 165,000 April increase, revised from 169,000. The latest rise was the firmest since January and beat [...]