Economy in Brief: 2017

Globally, service sector metrics show continued growth. All countries/regions (hereafter, I will simply reference 'countries' with no change in meaning) show service sector diffusion readings above 50, indicating expansion. I evaluate [...]

Manufacturing sector orders increased 1.2% during August (5.8% y/y) following an unrevised 3.3% July decline. Durable goods orders rose 2.0% (5.4% y/y), revised from the advance report of a 1.7% gain. That followed a 6.8% decline. [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 260,000 (+3.1% y/y) during the week ended September 30 from an unrevised 272,000 in the prior week. Expectations had been for 265,000 initial claims in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services fell to $42.4 billion during August from $43.6 billion during July which was little revised. A $42.8 billion deficit had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Total exports [...]

The table chronicles the various composite manufacturing and services PMIs offered by Markit (we use Markit readings for the U.S. here except in the left chart). The EMU and U.S. readings are on a strong rise, but those gains may not [...]

The Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Activity from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) rose to 59.8 during September from an unrevised 55.3 in August. It was the highest level since August 2005. The Action Economics [...]

The ADP/Moody's National Employment Report indicated that private nonfarm payrolls increased 135,000 (2.0% y/y) during September following a 228,000 August rise, revised from 237,000. ADP indicated that last month's weakness was due [...]

The market for new motor vehicles regained positive momentum last month as automakers aggressively cleared inventory in advance of the 2018 model selling season. Total sales of light vehicles jumped 15.0% during September (4.8% y/y) [...]