Economy in Brief: March 2021

• TEXT. • TEXT. • TEXT. PREVIOUS>>>>>The ISM-Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer fell 4.3 points in February to 59.5................. The MNI Chicago Report is produced by MNI in partnership with ISM-Chicago. The survey is [...]

EMU inflation in March and February is tranquil. But in the wake of a massive rise in January, calculated inflation rates for three-months and six-months are uncomfortably large. Year-on-year inflation in the EMU is just at 1.2%. That [...]

• Sales are constrained by limited supply. • Harsh winter weather likely also constrained sales. Pending home sales fell 10.6% (-0.5% y/y) during February following a 2.4% January drop, revised from -2.8%. According to the National [...]

• Job gains follow a weather-depressed February plus vaccination expansion. • Improvement is wide-spread amongst company size. • Factory & construction workforces reverse February declines. The rate of job market improvement rose last [...]

• The ISM-Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer expanded to 66.3 in March. • Production posted the largest gain. The ISM-Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer rose to 66.3 in March, the highest level since July 2018, [...]

• The decline was the seventh in the past eight weeks. • Applications for both purchases and refinancing fell. • Interest rate on 30-year mortgage edged down; first decline in eight weeks. The Mortgage Bankers Association Mortgage [...]

Policymakers and analysts involved in the lively debate on the future path of inflation need to consider whether the government statistical agencies have the tools or information to provide an accurate general inflation assessment. [...]

• Consumer confidence improvement accompanies COVID-19 shots & stimulus checks. • Current conditions and expectations readings improve. • Job market index strengthens. Consumers' willingness and wherewithal to spend strengthened this [...]