Economy in Brief: 2020

• Spending rose for third consecutive month, points to strong Q3. • Wages and salaries rose but government payments fell again. • Annual price inflation picks up but still well below Fed's target. Personal consumption expenditures [...]

• Trade deficit increased to $79.3 billion in July from $71.0 billion in June. • Exports and Imports both grow by 11.8%. Imports roughly 70% larger than exports causing widening. • Exports still 16.5% below February 2020 level. [...]

Money supply in EMU has surged showing annualized double-digit rates of growth over three months and six months, and nearly so over 12 months (9.5%). And while year-on-year credit growth has accelerated on 12-month growth rates (see [...]

• Midwest economic activity continues to improve. • Future expectations indicate continued expansion but at a slower pace than reported in July. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City reported that the manufacturing business activity [...]

• Pending home sales are reach highest level since October 2005. • Improvement continues but more moderately in all 4 regions. • Smallest increase in South, but it sets new record high. After substantial gains in May and June, pending [...]

• Q2 GDP fell less than the first estimate but this was still the largest quarterly decline on record. • Profits posted their second consecutive double-digit quarterly decline though smaller in Q2 than in Q1. • Decline still led by [...]

• State initial jobless claims declined to 1.006 million in the week ending August 22. • Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance new filers increased to 607,806, the second consecutive gain. • Continuing claims for state programs [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's state coincident indexes were generally strong in July. 45 states report gains since April (the map on the site, which charts the range of 3-month gains, is now a sea of blue. A few months [...]