Economy in Brief: 2020

• Factory orders increase again, notably for motor vehicles. • Shipments gain is broad-based. • Inventories build up. New orders for manufactured goods increased 6.2% in June (-10.6% y/y) after May's 7.7% gain, revised from 8.0%. A [...]

• Gasoline prices hold steady. • Crude oil prices ease. • Natural gas prices rebound. Regular gasoline prices were unchanged at $2.18 per gallon (-19.0% y/y) in the week ended August 3. Prices remained near the highest level since [...]

• Vehicle sales continue to increase m/m, but are off 14.6% y/y. The Autodata Corporation reported that sales of light vehicles rose 10.2% last month (-14.6% y/y) to 14.53 million units (SAAR) from 13.18 million in June. It was the [...]

• Construction spending scaled back for the fourth straight month. • Residential building leads the way lower. Construction activity remains weak. The value of construction put-in-place eased 0.7% (+0.1 y/y) during June following a [...]

Manufacturing largely improved in July and it has been improving in the past few months. But the sector is coming out of a period of extraordinary weakness. So this is more like a patient improving in intensive care after surgery than [...]

• Composite Index is above break-even for a second straight month. • Most component series improve. • Price index increases further. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported that its Composite Index of Manufacturing Sector [...]

• Spending gain is strong for second consecutive month. • Personal income decline reflects fewer government payments. • Price inflation picks up with higher energy prices. Personal consumption expenditures increased 5.6% in June [...]

• The gain surpasses expectations. • Component improvement is broad-based. The Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer improved to 51.9 during July from 36.6 in June. It was the highest reading since May 2019, up from a low of [...]