Economy in Brief

The Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Activity from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) fell more than expected to 52.6 during September from 56.4 in August. July's reading was 53.7. September's index is the weakest in [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 219,000 (0.1% y/y) during the week ended September 28 from 215,000 in the previous week, revised from 213,000. It was the highest level of claims in four weeks. The Action Economics [...]

Japan's Tankan survey weakened in Q3 as did the outlook for Q4. The only ‘saving grace' in this report is that despite widespread weakness it had been expected to show even greater slippage. This is a very comprehensive and closely [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its Mortgage Loan Index increased 8.1% (57.1% y/y) in the week ending September 27, following a 10.1% decline during the prior week. Applications to refinance a loan rebounded 14.2% [...]

The ADP National Employment Report indicated that private nonfarm payrolls increased 135,000 (1.7% y/y) during September after an August rise of 157,000, revised from 195,000. Payrolls increased 143,000 during July, revised from [...]

The Autodata Corporation reported that sales of light vehicles during September improved 0.9% (-0.6% y/y) to 17.23 million units (SAAR) from 17.07 million during August. The increase left the average level of sales during Q3'19 at [...]

The value of construction put-in-place improved 0.1% (-1.9% y/y) during August following a little-revised stability in July. A 0.4% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Construction activity in the private [...]

Taking a full count of the countries and regions in the top panel of the table, ten of 17 have PMIs below 50 in September. There are two countries Turkey and Taiwan with readings right at 50 (note: Taiwan is below 50 but rounds up to [...]