Economy in Brief

• Crude oil prices rose last week following the prior week's collapse. • Gasoline prices increased two cents. • Natural gas prices weakened further. The spot price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil rebounded to $15.65 per barrel [...]

• Crude oil prices rose last week following the prior week's collapse. • Gasoline prices increased two cents. • Natural gas prices weakened further. The spot price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil rebounded to $15.65 per barrel [...]

• Factory orders decline led by durable goods. • Shipments & unfilled orders drop markedly as well. • Inventory liquidation progresses. Mirroring the weakness reported last month for durable goods orders and industrial production, [...]

The finalized April PMIs for Europe are even weaker than the already released flash versions that were themselves quite weak. The spread of weakness is unusually uniform with the weakest manufacturing PMIs reading at 27.4 (India) and [...]

Mirroring the weakness reported last month for durable goods orders and industrial production, each component of factory sector activity declined in March. Factory orders dropped 10.3% (-11.4% y/y) during March following a little- [...]

• • • The value of construction put-in-place dropped 1.3% in February ....... The construction spending figures, some of which date back to 1946, as well as and US Population-Weighted Heating and Cooling Days can be found in Haver's [...]

• Vehicle sales declined 49.6% in last two months. • Car & light truck sales each suffer large losses. Would-be motor vehicle buyers avoided dealer showrooms in April for a second straight month due to higher unemployment, fear of the [...]

The manufacturing PMI readings fell significantly everywhere globally. But in China where the gauge did lose standing it barely ticked below 50, indicating contraction. Japan showed the second most resilience with its manufacturing [...]