Economy in Brief

This is just another in a series of reports that chronicles the deep impact that a lockdown has on a modern economy. The U.K. table detail shows that food, beverages & tobacco sales held up and have a near record month for sales while [...]

• 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 [...]

• 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 [...]

• 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 [...]