Economy in Brief: May 2016

Chicago purchasing managers reported that their Business Barometer Index fell to 49.3 this month following a decline to 50.4 in April. The latest reading disappointed expectations for 50.5 in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The [...]

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index during May declined 2.2% (-2.1% y/y) to 92.6 following a 1.5% April decrease to 94.7, revised from 94.2. The latest figure was the lowest in six months and disappointed expectations for [...]

Central bank bond purchases and negative interest are still not pumping up money growth in the EMU. The year-over-year growth rates for money and credit have backed off, leaving the stimulus policies without a solid backing from the [...]

Personal consumption expenditures during April jumped 1.0% (4.1% y/y) following no change in March, revised from 0.1%. The latest increase was the strongest since August 2009, and outpaced expectations for a 0.7% rise in the Action [...]

Although household confidence was last higher eight and one-half year ago, it was exactly this high back in January of this year. Viewed on a much broader horizon, the current confidence readings sit only at the 50.8th percentile of [...]

Real economic growth last quarter was somewhat firmer than first indicated. GDP grew 0.8% (SAAR, 2.0% y/y) after an initially reported 0.5% gain. Nevertheless, it remained the weakest quarterly rise in a year. A lessened drag on [...]

New orders for durable goods jumped 3.4% during April (1.9% y/y) following a 1.9% March increase, revised from 0.8%. A 0.2% April gain had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Data were revised back to 2001. A 64.9% [...]

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that pending sales of single-family homes jumped 5.1% in April (4.6% y/y) following a little-revised 1.6% March increase. The April sales volume was the strongest since February [...]