Economy in Brief: June 2021

• Improvement is unexpectedly strong. • Business activity improves but employment reading falters. • Pricing power builds to near-record level. Service sector activity improved last month along with the factory sector, as reported [...]

• Initial state claims down another 20,000. • Continuing state claims edge upward, but maintain recent pandemic low range. • PUA claims lowest since very first week of program in April 2020. Initial claims for unemployment insurance [...]

• Upward revisions in output and compensation. • Unit labor costs are revised up sharply. • Continued surge in compensation per hour. The first revision of nonfarm business sector productivity kept the Q1 rise unchanged at 5.4% (SAAR, [...]

• Surprisingly strong increase is fifth consecutive rise. • Improvement is widespread amongst company size. • Industry improvement is widespread. The job market continued to improve last month. The ADP National Employment Report [...]

• Car & light truck sales decline. • Imports' share of market continues to strengthen. The Autodata Corporation reported that light vehicle sales during May declined 7.8% (+41.5% y/y) to 17.09 million units (SAAR) following two months [...]

A perusal of the early reporters of PPI results in the EMU shows clear-cut broad and virulent inflation at work. Of the 14 countries in table (of which 12 are EMU members; Sweden and Denmark are not), all show price increases in April [...]

• Applications are down one-third so far this year. • Both purchase & refinancing applications dropped last week. • Mortgage interest rates are little changed. The Mortgage Bankers Association's Loan Applications Index fell 4.0% [...]

• Gasoline prices remain strong versus last year. • Crude oil prices rise further. • Natural gas prices decline again. Retail gasoline prices rose to $3.03 per gallon (53.3% y/y) in the week ended May 31 and recaptured the prior [...]