Economy in Brief: June 2016

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 267,000, up 6.5% y/y, during the week ended May 28 versus an unrevised decline to 268,000 in the prior week. It was the third consecutive weekly shortfall, but it left the average so [...]

The ADP/Moody's National Employment Report indicated that nonfarm private sector payrolls rose 173,000 during May following a 166,000 April rise, revised from 156,000. These gains compare to an average of 200,000 during Q1'16 and [...]

Total sales of light vehicles during May edged 0.2% higher versus April (-1.4% y/y) to 17.45 million units (SAAR). Auto sales improved 0.8% to 7.12 million units (-11.3% y/y). The increase was led by a 1.1% rise (-11.7% y/y) in [...]

Strength in building activity has waned recently. The value of construction put-in-place declined 1.8% during April (+4.5% y/y) following a 1.5% March rise, revised from 0.3%. February's 1.4% gain also was revised from 1.0%. A 0.5% [...]

The ISM Composite Index of manufacturing activity increased slightly to 51.3 during May following an unrevised April decline to 50.8. The index has hovered near the break-even level of 50 for four months, but last month beat [...]

Lethargy and weakness rule Manufacturing PMI data remain weak on a global scale. Among the reporters in this table with data back to only 2008 at the most, there is NO country whose manufacturing PMI stands higher than Vietnam's 86th [...]

The busiest driving season has given rise to further strength in gasoline prices. Regular gasoline prices increased to $2.34 per gallon during Memorial Day week (-15.9% y/y) following the prior week's jump to $2.30, according to the [...]