Economy in Brief: 2020

Euro area retail sales fell sharply again, dropping by 11.7% in April after a 11.1% decline in March. However, as May ended, European countries were in various stages of reopening their economies after battening down the hatches to [...]

• Output per hour revised up on weaker hours worked. • Unit labor costs revised up on higher compensation. Productivity in the nonfarm business sector during Q1'20 was revised up to a 0.9% q/q (SAAR) decline from the initially [...]

• Initial jobless claims decreased to a still extremely-elevated 1.877 million in the week ending May 30. • Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance new filers declined to 623,073. • Continuing claim for state programs increased to [...]

• • • 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.... The factory [...]

• Mortgage applications decreased 3.9% in week ending May 29. • Refinancing applications dropped 8.6%, the seventh consecutive weekly decline. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Index [...]

• Service sector business improves moderately. • Business activity recovery is notable. • Prices index steadies. As states reopen, nonmanufacturing business activity is picking up. The Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector [...]

Unemployment rates in the U.S. economy have been a matter of controversy for some time. This month the data from Europe are eye opening and it reminds us why we need to think about what economic data mean as well as to report them and [...]

• A second large factory orders decline led by durable goods. • Shipments fall even more in April than in March. • Inventory liquidation continues--in nondurable goods. U.S. factory orders and shipments posted even larger declines in [...]