Economy in Brief: May 2015

German real orders rose by 0.9% in March after two months of falling. Orders, however, are still falling at a 6.1% annual rate in the just completed first quarter. But this drop is not the reason for my pessimism over this report. [...]

The job market remains on solid ground. In the week ended May 2nd, initial claims for jobless insurance increased to 265,000 from an unrevised 262,000, the lowest levels in fifteen years. The four week moving average declined to [...]

The ADP/Moody's National Employment Report indicated that nonfarm private sector payrolls increased 169,000 during April following a 175,000 March gain, revised from 189,000. The latest rise was the weakest since January of last year [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index declined 4.6% last week (+21.8% y/y), the third decline in four weeks. Refinance applications fell 8.3% (+30.8% y/y) to the lowest level in four [...]

Nonfarm productivity fell at a 1.9% annual rate last quarter (+0.6% y/y), about the same as during a little-revised Q4. Harsh winter weather and the strike at West coast ports constrained real output. It slipped at a 0.2% rate (+3.5% [...]

The services sector has been carrying the European recovery, but that sector backed off with its PMI index edging lower to 54.1 in April from 54.2 in March. Still, the services PMI has a queue standing in the 76.2 percentile, much [...]

The ADP/Moody's National Employment Report indicated that nonfarm private sector payrolls increased 169,000 during April following a 175,000 March gain, revised from 189,000. The latest rise was the weakest since January of last year [...]

The ADP/Moody's National Employment Report reported that nonfarm private sector payrolls increased 189,000 during March following a 214,000 improvement in February, revised from 212,000. The latest gain was the weakest since January [...]