Economy in Brief: March 2020

• • • The Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer rebounded to 49.0 in February.................. The MNI Chicago Report is produced by MNI in partnership with ISM-Chicago. The survey covers a sample of over 200 purchasing [...]

China has logged an exceptional snapback in its manufacturing and nonmanufacturing PMIs in March. In February, China shocked the world by posting a manufacturing PMI that fell to 35.7 from 50.0 and a nonmanufacturing PMI that fell to [...]

The Conference Board's Index of Consumer Confidence declined 9.5% (-3.4% y/y) during March to a level of 120.0 following a 1.7% February gain, revised from 0.2%. A decline to an index level of 114.8 had been expected in the Action [...]

• Chicago PMI fell to 47.8 in March, the ninth consecutive month below 50 growth mark. • ISM-Adjusted measure calculated by Haver Analytics fell even more to 46.9. • Survey extended only to March 16; so it doesn't capture most of the [...]

Retail gasoline prices declined to $2.00 per gallon (-25.5% y/y) in the week ended March 30 from $2.12 per gallon in the previous week. Prices remained below their May 2019 peak of $2.90 per gallon. Haver Analytics adjusts the [...]

The Conference Board's Index of Consumer Confidence declined 9.5% (-3.4% y/y) during March to a level of 120.0 following a 1.7% February gain, revised from 0.2%. A decline to an index level of 114.8 had been expected in the Action [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported in its Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey that the General Business Activity Index weakened to -70.0 this month from 1.2 in February. The decline mirrored the readings from other regional [...]

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that pending home sales increased 2.4% in February (9.4% y/y) to the highest level since February 2017. Lower mortgage rates helped fuel the increase with the 15-year fixed-rate [...]