Economy in Brief: May 2020

• • • • • • PREVIOUS>>>>Industrial production plummeted 5.4% in March......... Industrial production and capacity are included in Haver's USECON database. Additional detail on production and capacity can be found in the IP database. [...]

• Data indicate severe weakness in labor market. • Hiring weakens as job openings start to disappear. • Layoffs surge. Fewer quits suggest workers have no option but to stay put. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total [...]

Total business inventories fell 0.2% m/m (-0.3% y/y) in March, following a revised 0.3% m/m decline in February. The March result equaled the Informa Global Markets survey forecast. Business sales dropped 5.2% m/m (-4.9% y/y) after a [...]

While the chart shows the hint of GDP weakening ahead of the hit from the coronavirus, the virus clearly was a blow out of the blue. Among the nine early reporting long-standing EMU members, GDP fell everywhere except in Finland where [...]

• • • Total business inventories fell 0.4% m/m (-0.1% y/y) in February.......... Sales at retail stores (excluding sales of food services) fell 0.5% m/m in February ...... The manufacturing and trade data are in Haver's USECON [...]

• Industrial production plummeted 11.2% in April led by a 13.7% fall in manufacturing output. • These are the largest single monthly declines on record; data goes back to 1921. • Lowest level of manufacturing activity since August [...]

• Consumers pull back as coronavirus takes hold. • Spending cutbacks are broad-based. Social distancing, store closings and travel restrictions took their toll on consumer spending last month. Total retail sales, including food [...]

The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions rebounded to -48.5 in May from the record collapse to -78.2 in April. As bad as the May figure was, it was considerably above the Action Economics Forecast panel's [...]