Economy in Brief

• Employment increased in May rather than declined. • June's gains are spread across industry sectors. The job market continued to expand last month. The ADP National Employment Report indicated that nonfarm private payrolls during [...]

• Mortgage applications decreased 1.8% in week ending June 26. • 15-year fixed rate mortgage edges up to 2.90%, near record low of 2.87%. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Index declined [...]

SUBTT

• The rise is disappointing. • Component increases are broad-based. The Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer improved to 36.6 during June from 32.3 in May. Despite the increase, the figure remained below its high of 66.5 in [...]

• The reading of current conditions increases sharply. • Expectations improve again. • All age groups feel better. Broad improvement in consumer confidence in June reflected re-opening of the economy and fewer claims for unemployment [...]

• Gasoline prices increase with seasonal demand. • Crude oil prices continue to improve. • Natural gas prices rise moderately. The price for regular gasoline rose to $2.17 per gallon (-19.9% y/y) in the week ended June 29 from $2.13 [...]

The EMU indexes made sharp rebounds in June but are still weak in their respective historic queues of values. Construction has been the relative strongest sector at its 62.1 percentile and nothing else quite close to that. The next [...]

• Component increases are broad-based. • Expectations also improve broadly. The Dallas Federal Reserve reported in its Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey that the General Business Activity Index increased to -6.1% from the near-record [...]