Economy in Brief: April 2019

The employment cost index (ECI) for civilian workers rose 0.7% in Q1'19 following a 0.7% Q4'18 gain. The riser matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The increase left y/y compensation growth at 2.9%, up from [...]

Year-over-year GDP growth had decelerated in five consecutive quarters until the Q1 2019 release. And even in 2019, it is not posting a trend-stopping rise, but rather a rate of growth equal to that in the previous quarter when [...]

The Conference Board reported that its Consumer Confidence Index increased 4.0% (2.9% y/y) to 129.2 during April and reversed most of the March decline. The m/m rise exceeded expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey which [...]

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that pending home sales jumped 3.8% in March (-1.2% year-on-year). Pending sales declined for most of 2018, dropping in December to its lowest level since April 2014. Pending sales [...]

The employment cost index (ECI) for civilian workers rose 0.7% in Q1'19 following a 0.7% Q4'18 gain. The gain matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The increase left y/y compensation growth at 2.8%, up from its [...]

The employment cost index (ECI) for civilian workers rose 0.7% in Q1'19 following a 0.7% Q4'18 gain. The gain matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The increase left y/y compensation growth at 2.8%, up from its [...]

The Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer fell in April for the second consecutive month--to 52.6 from 58.7 in March and 64.7 in February. This is the lowest reading since January 2017. The Action Economics Forecast Survey [...]

Retail gasoline prices increased five cents last week to $2.89 per gallon (1.4% y/y) after rising one penny during the prior week. It was the highest level since early-October. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the [...]