Economy in Brief: 2020

Japan's various economic surveys tell a consistent, depressing… and familiar story on the economy. The final two columns of the table rank the various readings on growth and on index level. The readings are uniformly and extremely [...]

• Pricing power is weighed down by economic weakness due to coronavirus shutdowns. • Food prices continue to strengthen. • Energy prices weaken further. The record decline in overall activity this quarter is weighing on pricing power. [...]

• Mortgage applications increased 9.3% in week ending June 5. • 15-year fixed rate mortgage declines to seven-year low of 2.89%. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Index rose 9.3% (48.1% [...]

• NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rebounded to 94.4 in May from a seven-year low in April. • Eight out of ten components rose in May. • Respondents are optimistic about future business conditions and expect the recession to be [...]

• Wholesale inventory-to-sales ratio jumps to record 1.65 in April. • Inventories increased 0.3% while sales dropped 16.9%. • While inventory swings can have a meaningful impact on GDP, in the current quarter they will be overwhelmed [...]

• Job openings fall sharply. • Hiring continued to disappear. • Layoffs remained elevated and quits fall. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate eased to 3.7% during April from 3.8% in March and 4.4% [...]

Germany has just logged trade data for April and the results are dismal to abysmal. The surplus that was €21.4bln in February dropped to €12.8bln in March and plunged to €3.2bln in April, an extremely rapid stepdown. This is the [...]

• Wholesale inventory-to-sales ratio jumps to record 1.65 in April. • Inventories increased 0.3% while sales dropped 16.9%. • While inventory swings can have a meaningful impact on GDP, in the current quarter they will be overwhelmed [...]