Economy in Brief: 2021

• Overall activity hits record high. • Residential building surge led by single-family sector. • Public sector building edges higher. The value of construction put-in-place increased 1.0% during December (5.7% y/y) following [...]

Nine reporters in the table have manufacturing sectors that took a step back in January while eight improved on the month. The unweighted average PMI reading edged lower to 53.9 in January from 54.2 in December. In Asia, the [...]

• Factory activity slips m/m but remains strong y/y. • New orders & production weaken. • Pricing power improves further. Activity in the factory sector weakened slightly last month. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported [...]

The table shows the early reporters of GDP in the EMU plus the U.S. result. On the far right, I present a percentile ranking of the year-on-year GDP growth rates on data back to 1997. Despite a massive rebound in GDP in Q3 – and one [...]

• Pending home sales fall for fourth consecutive month. • Sales are mixed across the country. Pending home sales eased 0.3% (+21.4% y/y) in December, after falling 2.5% in November, according to the National Association of Realtors [...]

• Business activity index in Chicago rises 5.1 points. • Production, new orders, backlogs and inventories contribute to gain. • Employment index declined. The Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer rose 5.1 points in January [...]

• Spending on durable & nondurable goods moves sharply lower. • Wage growth remains moderate. • Pricing power increases. Consumers remained cautious last month. Personal consumption expenditures declined 0.2% (-2.0% y/y) during [...]

• Overall compensation increased 0.7% in Q4; year-on-year growth accelerates slightly to 2.5%. • Wages and salaries up 0.9% (2.6% y/y) while benefits gain 0.6% (2.3% y/y). The employment cost index (ECI) for civilian workers rose 0.7% [...]