Economy in Brief: 2019

The Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Activity from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) declined to 57.6 during December from 60.7 in November. It was the lowest level since July, down from a high of 61.6 in September. [...]

Germany's real orders and real sales by sector are either falling or decelerating or both on a broad front in November. Of nine growth rates for total orders, foreign orders, and domestic orders over three months, six months and 12 [...]

The labor market finished 2018 on a firm footing. Nonfarm payrolls increased 312,000 (1.8% y/y) during December after a 176,000 November rise, revised from 155,000. October's gain also was revised up to 274,000 from 237,000. The [...]

The U.K. PMIs from Markit/CIPS continued to point to a relatively subdued path for growth ahead. The composite PMI is at a moderate reading of 51.4 in December, up from 50.8 in November. However, evaluated since January 2014, the 51.4 [...]

The labor market finished 2018 on a firm footing. Nonfarm payrolls increased 312,000 (1.8% y/y) during December after a 176,000 November rise, revised from 155,000. October's gain also was revised up to 274,000 from 237,000. The [...]

Initial unemployment insurance claims jumped 10,000 to 231,000 (-6.9% y/y) in the week ended December 29 versus an upwardly revised 221,000 in the previous week. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expectation was for 219,000 new [...]

The value of construction put-in-place eased 0.1% (+4.9% y/y) during October......... The construction spending figures, some of which date back to 1946 (e.g., public construction figures), are in Haver's USECON database and the [...]

The story of an ongoing slowdown for global growth is not news. It is, in fact, the baseline case for most forecasts for 2019. Most of the special-case stories in play as the New Year unfolds (or unravels as the case may be) are about [...]