Economy in Brief: April 2020

• 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 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) [...]

• • The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) indicated that its Small Business Optimism Index plummeted 7.8% (-5.3% y/y) to 96.4 during March........... The NFIB figures can be found in Haver's SURVEYS database. National [...]

I feature a chart of Finland's price index against Brent. It shows how the headline for Finland is very much on the same cycle as oil prices. However, despite a heralded oil price deal, oil prices today are falling again and the oil [...]

• Lower oil prices drag costs lower. • Prices for other goods weaken. Import prices weakened 2.3% (-4.1% y/y) during March after falling 0.7% in February, revised from -0.5%. A 3.0% decline had been expected in the Action Economics [...]

• Economic worries develop. • Pricing power weakens. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) indicated that its Small Business Optimism Index plummeted 7.8% (-5.3% y/y) to 96.4 during March, the lowest level since [...]

• Crude oil prices improved last week, but a sideways trend persists. • A supply/demand imbalance for petroleum intensifies. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil increased to $24.40 per barrel last week from an average [...]

• Crude oil prices improved last week, but a sideways trend persists. • A supply/demand imbalance for petroleum intensifies. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil increased to $24.40 per barrel last week from an average [...]