Economy in Brief

• • • PREVIOUS>>>>>> The Mortgage Bankers Association Mortgage Loan Applications Index edged up 0.8% w/w (+80.5% y/y) in the week ended December 18...... This survey covers over 75% of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications [...]

Service sectors struggle In sharp contrast to the ebullient manufacturing PMIs released yesterday, the services sector readings are weak globally driving the composite PMI measures to extremely weak readings. The average queue [...]

• Factory orders and shipments remain strong. • Inventory accumulation accelerates. • Order backlogs continue to decline. Manufacturing activity continues to strengthen. Factory orders rose in November for a seventh consecutive month. [...]

• Job loss follows seven months of increase. • Declines ranged throughout most economic sectors. As the number of COVID-19 cases increase, the labor market suffered. The ADP National Employment Report indicated that nonfarm private [...]

• Decline led by drop in applications for refinancing. • Mortgage interest rates mostly fell further to new record lows. The Mortgage Bankers Association Mortgage Loan Applications Index fell 4.2% in the last two weeks of 2020. The [...]

• Sales of light trucks recover following two months of decline. • Passenger car sales continue to slip. • Imports' share of vehicle market backpedals. Light vehicle buyers returned to the market last month following two months of [...]

The graphic of the largest global economic regions shows that a powerful expansion is still in place in December. This is despite a spreading Covid-19 and a situation where lockdowns have intensified. But the impact of these lockdowns [...]

• Factory activity rebounds and exceeds its recent high. • Component improvement is broad-based. • Price index surges. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported that its Composite Index of Manufacturing Sector Activity jumped [...]