Economy in Brief: May 2020

• Reflecting impact of pandemic, total leading index declines 4.4% in April, following record 7.4% drop in March. • Coincident indicators confirm deep economic recession. • Lagging indicators detect labor market stress. The Conference [...]

• Existing home sales lowest since July 2011. • Sales fall in every region. • Prices were still rising in 3 regions. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that sales of existing homes dropped 17.8% (-17.2% y/y) during [...]

PMI readings rebounded in May. The sectors with the weakest April readings rose sharply in May while the strongest April readings rebounded more moderately in May. Only Japan's manufacturing sector was an exception of sorts as it [...]

• Business activity index is negative for third straight month. • Orders, shipments and employment readings shaved losses, while remaining negative. • Expectations improve again. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported that [...]

• Initial jobless claims declined to a still extremely-elevated 2.438 million in the week ending May 16. • Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program claims jumped to 2.227 million new filers, likely the result of processing [...]

• • • PREVIOUS>>>>>The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that sales of existing homes during March declined 8.5% (+0.8% y/y) to 5.270 million (AR) from 5.760 million in February.......... The data on existing home sales, [...]

Inflation in the euro area is low and has been persistently undershooting with very few exceptions since end-2012. Over that span of over seven years, HICP inflation has averaged 1% per year. Over that same period, the core rate has [...]

• Refinancings plummet but purchases surge. • Home buyers lock in low financing rates. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its Mortgage Loan Application Index fell 2.6% (+64.0% y/y) last week following negligible increases [...]