Economy in Brief: 2021

• Harsh winter weather curtailed building activity. • Residential decline led by multi-family sector. • Public-sector building weakened. Building activity weakened as severe winter weather curtailed activity. The value of construction [...]

• Factory activity increases to 1983 high. • Component strength is broad-based. • Pricing power remains strong. Factory sector activity remained robust last month. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported that its Composite [...]

• PUA claims continue to decline. • Insured jobless rate is unchanged in the week ending March 20. Initial claims for unemployment insurance were 719,000, an increase of 61,000 from the previous week, which was revised down by 26,000 [...]

• 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, [...]