Economy in Brief: 2021

• Nonfarm worker productivity surges. • Compensation per hour rises in Q1'21. • Unit labor costs decline. Nonfarm business sector productivity rose 5.4% (SAAR, 4.1% y/y) during Q1'21, following a decline of 3.8% (SAAR, +2.6% y/y) in [...]

The composite PMI measures across an early-reporting group of 16 entities (15 countries and the euro area) show that most of these reporters are expanding and few of them are slowing. The average (unweighted) PMI for this group has [...]

• Components are mixed. • New orders decline, but employment increases. • Pricing improves to July 2008 high. Service sector activity weakened last month along with the factory sector, as reported Monday. The Composite Index of [...]

• Applications to purchase edge downward, those for refinancing edge upward. • Mortgage interest rates mostly up, but changes very small. The Mortgage Bankers Association Mortgage Loan Applications Index decreased 0.9% (-5.9% y/y) in [...]

• Jobs expand for a fourth consecutive month. • Improvement extends throughout company size. • Factory & construction workforces continue strong. Job market improvement continued last month as businesses reopened and Covid-19 [...]

• Gasoline prices continue upward. • Crude oil prices also continue to edge higher. • Natural gas prices strengthen. The price of regular gasoline rose 2 cents to $2.89 a gallon (61.5% y/y) in the week ended May 3 from $2.87 per [...]

• Factory order gains are broad-based. • Shipments reverse sharp February decline. • Order backlogs & inventories continue to move up. New orders for manufactured goods increased 1.1% in March (16.1% y/y) after February's 0.5% easing. [...]

On its trade account, Canada has logged six monthly surpluses in the last six and one-quarter years. In March, the trade data are coming off a string of two surpluses in a row. Despite the surplus rarity, Canada's surpluses have [...]