Economy in Brief: May 2021

• Consumer spending revised up while business & residential investment are strengthened. • Inventory & foreign trade effects are lessened. • Corporate profits improve. Real GDP surged 6.4% (SAAR) during Q1'21 (0.4% y/y), unrevised [...]

Navigating the twists and turns of economic and financial market data has never been easy. But the interplay between economic outcomes and financial market outcomes is often the most perplexing. Who would have thought, for example, [...]

• Initial state claims fall to yet another pandemic low. • State claims approaching range in which they have fluctuated during more normal times. • PUA claims also fell. Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell 38,000 in the [...]

Household confidence rose in May; the services and manufacturing sectors generally improved by more on the month. Household confidence has climbed back up above its median value since the year 2000 with a ranking in its 53.7 [...]

• Firm economic growth lowers jobless rate. • Growth improvement spreads across sectors. • Inflation and market interest rate forecasts are raised. The National Association for Business Economics raised its 2022 real GDP forecast to [...]

• Confidence holds at fourteen-month high. • Improvement in current conditions contrasts with lower expectations. • Job market indexes continue to firm. Consumer confidence remains strong. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence [...]

• Sales decline reverses March increase. • Declines occur throughout most of country. • Median home prices near-record high. Sales of new single-family homes declined 5.9% (+48.3% y/y) during April to 863,000 units (SAAR) following a [...]

• House prices climbed 1.4% in March; February was revised up slightly. • Year-to-year move 13.9%; new high but up from low base. • All regions have participated in yearly double-digit advances. The Federal Housing Finance Agency [...]