Economy in Brief: April 2020

The CPI fell during March by the largest amount since January 2015. Consumer prices were off 0.4% (+1.5% y/y) following two consecutive 0.1% increases. Expectations had been for a 0.3% decline in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]

• Housing affordability increased in February to its highest rate since late 2016. • Lower mortgage rates and rising incomes offset higher home prices. The National Association of Realtors reported that its Fixed Rate Mortgage Housing [...]

The U.S. Treasury Department reported that for the first six months of FY 2020, the federal government budget deficit rose to $743.59 billion, up 7.6% y/y. During March alone, the federal government ran a $119.12 billion budget [...]

• Initial jobless claims declined slightly to 6.606 million in the week ending April 4. • Over the last three weeks 16.8 million people have filed new claims. • This suggests an over 10 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate. [...]

Wholesale inventories fell 0.7% (-1.3% y/y) during February following a 0.6% decline in January, revised from -0.4%. The advance report issued on March 26 indicated a 2.2% inventory decline for February. A 0.5% fall had been expected [...]

Germany logged its highest surplus since March 2018 when it was €21.68b. The surplus in February 2020 hit €21.58b. Powerful forces were at work on both sides of the trade balance in February with exports gaining 1.3% as imports fell [...]

Weakness in industrial sector activity is translating into reduced pricing power. The Producer Price Index for final demand eased 0.2% (+0.7% y/y) during March following a 0.6% February fall. A 0.3% decline had been expected in the [...]

• Initial jobless claims declined slightly to 6.606 million in the week ending April 4. • Over the last three weeks 16.8 million people have filed new claims. • This suggests an over 10 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate. [...]