Economy in Brief: 2021

• Overall activity sets another record. • Residential building's surge led by single-family sector. • Public-sector building strengthens. Building activity continues to strengthen. The value of construction put-in-place increased 1.7% [...]

• Factory activity increases to three-year high. • Component gains are broad-based. • Pricing power improves further. Factory sector activity recovered last month following moderate weakening in January. The Institute for Supply [...]

• Business activity index reverses most of January's increase. • Declines in new orders & production lead the decline. • Employment and prices improve. The ISM-Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer fell 4.3 points in February [...]

Japan's IP surged in January gaining 4.3% compared to December; that breaks a two-month slide in output. Total industry output is still lower by 1.4% over 12 months. The robust gain gets the new quarter off to a strong start with [...]

• Income boosted by government payments of $600 to individuals. • Spending growth strengthens for goods & services. • Pricing power remains improved. Personal income jumped 10.0% (13.1% y/y) last month after increasing 0.6% during [...]

• A small narrowing had been expected. • Both exports and imports increased but at a slower pace than in December. • Net exports begin Q1 on course to be a slight drag on overall GDP growth in Q1. The advance estimate of the U.S. [...]

• PREVIOUS>>>>>>>>>>>Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose 13,000 in the week ended February 13 to 861,000...... For more details, please see the September 3 commentary on jobless claims. Data on weekly unemployment claims [...]

• Growth continues at quickest rate since June 2018. • Component improvement is widespread. • Expectations for six months ahead broadly strengthen. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City reported that its manufacturing sector [...]