Economy in Brief: March 2016

Total sales of light vehicles during February eased 0.2% m/m to 17.54 million units (SAAR) from 17.58 million in January. The sizable 7.0% y/y increase continued to reflect the decline in gasoline prices, strong consumer confidence [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index fell 4.8% last week (+18.1% y/y), about as it did during the prior week. Nevertheless, applications rose nearly one-quarter last month versus [...]

EMU PPI trends continue to feature price declines. The headline PPI series (PPI excluding construction) shows declines in January and December. In fact, the month-to-month declines go all the way back uninterrupted to March 2015. [...]

The ADP/Moody's National Employment Report indicated that nonfarm private sector payrolls rose 214,000 during February versus 193,000 in January, revised from 205,000. The latest gain was firmer than expectations for a 195,000 rise in [...]

The value of construction put-in-place increased 1.5% during January (9.5% y/y) after a 0.6% December gain, revised from 0.1%. It was the strongest rise since May, and exceeded the 0.5% increase expected in the Action Economics [...]

We are visited today by more dissonance in data as global and EMU PMIs fell, showing broad-based declines as unemployment fell across the EMU, in Japan, and has been staying low in the U.S. I guess we should cut the Fed some slack on [...]

The ISM Composite Index of factory sector activity rose to 49.5, the highest level since September. It indicated a decline in factory sector activity for the fifth straight month, but exceeded expectations for 48.5 in the Action [...]

Petroleum prices stabilized last week following steady declines since the June highs. Regular gasoline averaged $1.78 per gallon last week (-27.9% y/y), up from $1.73 and the highest level since early in the month, according to the [...]