Economy in Brief: August 2019

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services decreased ever so slightly in June to $55.2 billion from May's $55.3 billion; that month's result was revised marginally from $55.5 billion. The consensus expectation from the Action [...]

Manufacturers' orders rose 0.6% (-1.2% year-on-year) in June following declines in each of the previous two months. Orders fell 1.2% m/m in April and 1.3% m/m in May. The Action Economics Forecast survey looked for a 0.6% increase. [...]

Job growth eased during July. Nonfarm payrolls increased 164,000 (1.5% y/y) last month following a 193,000 June rise, revised from 224,000. May's increase also was revised lower to 62,000 from 72,000. So far this year, payrolls have [...]

The Autodata Corporation reported that sales of light vehicles during July declined 2.0% (-0.7% y/y) to 16.89 million units (SAAR). The decline added to a 1.3% June shortfall and left sales at the lowest level since April. Earlier [...]

The manufacturing PMIs show a great deal of weakness. The quarterly data show clear weakness as the percentage of countries with diffusion readings improving (momentum improving…) is 26% or less over three months, six months and 12 [...]

Building sector activity continues to weaken. The value of construction put-in-place fell 1.3% (-2.0% y/y) during June following a 0.5% May decline, revised from -0.8. A 0.3% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

The ISM manufacturing index slipped to 51.2 during July from 51.7 in June. It was the lowest level since August 2016 and was below the expansion peak of 60.8 last August. The Action Economics Forecast Survey anticipated a reading of [...]

Initial claims jobless insurance rose to 215,000 during the week ended July 27 and made up most of the prior week's decline to 207,000, revised from 206,000. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 214,000 initial claims. The [...]