Economy in Brief: April 2020

• COVID-19 depresses business. • Outlook worsens. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported in its Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey for April that the Current General Business Activity Index weakened to a record low of -73.7 from [...]

This is not snorkeling or even deep sea diving; it requires a bathyscaphe. The German IFO has sunk to new depths even after a substantial plunge a month ago. All of the rankings display severe weakness with the ongoing lone exception [...]

• Durable goods orders weaken 14.4% in March, the sharpest decline since August 2014. • Commercial aircraft orders plummet. • Inventories surge. Manufacturers' orders for durable goods fell 14.4% last month (-16.0% y/y) following a [...]

• Durable goods orders weaken 14.4% in March, the sharpest decline since August 2014. • Commercial aircraft orders plummet. • Inventories surge.

• • • PREVIOUS >>> Sales of new single-family homes declined 4.4% (+14.3% y/y) during February to 765,000 (AR) from 800,000 in January............. The data in this report are available in Haver's USECON database. The consensus [...]

• Midwest economic activity is under pressure. • New orders, employment and prices are falling. • Expectations improve modestly. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City reported that its manufacturing business activity index declined [...]

• Initial claims for jobless insurance eased to 4.427 million last week. • Roughly 26 million individuals filed new claims during the last five weeks. • The insured jobless rate jumped to 11.0%. Initial jobless claims for unemployment [...]

• New single-family dropped 15.4% in March to 627,000 with meaningful downward revisions to January and February. • Despite the weakness in March and downward revisions, sales remain elevated relative to recent history. • [...]