Economy in Brief

• Monthly decline sets record. • All sectors hit hard. • Leisure & hospitality businesses pace the decline. The ADP National Employment Report indicated that nonfarm private payrolls during April fell 20.236 million (-14.8% y/y) [...]

• Financing rates fall and are at or near record lows. • Purchase volume rose for third consecutive week as some states begin to reopen. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its Mortgage Loan Application Index edged up 0.1% [...]

Once again the data demonstrate a sharp drop that has had no real prelude. February was a more or less normal month; then March and April saw collapse come out of the blue as the wheels went spinning off the wagons. These are the [...]

• Monthly decline sets record. • All sectors hit hard. • Leisure & hospitality businesses pace the decline. The ADP National Employment Report indicated that nonfarm private payrolls during April fell 20.236 million (-14.8% y/y) [...]

• Monthly decline sets record. • All sectors hit hard. • Leisure & hospitality businesses pace the decline. The ADP National Employment Report indicated that nonfarm private payrolls during April fell 20.236 million (-14.8% y/y) [...]

I read the news today, oh, boy… It is Cinco de Mayo but the bars are closed so celebrating that holds bleak prospects. The euro area PPI is not the sort of thing we would celebrate, putting Cinco de Mayo aside. Sure, low-inflation [...]

• ISM Nonmanufacturing Index weakened substantially to 2009 low. • Business activity and new orders lead the index lower. • Prices strengthen. The Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Activity from the Institute for Supply [...]

• The foreign trade deficit in goods & services reversed most of its earlier improvement. • Exports declined as growth abroad remained weak. • Imports fell sharply with lower oil prices. The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services [...]