Economy in Brief: June 2017

The Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Activity from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) fell to 56.9 during May, and reversed all of its April increase. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected a reading of 56.0. [...]

Nonfarm output per hour remained unchanged during Q1'17 (1.2% y/y) revised from the preliminary report of a 0.6% decline. A 0.1% dip had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Output grew an upwardly revised 1.7% (2.5% [...]

The May employment report sent mixed signals about labor market conditions. Nonfarm payrolls rose 138,000 (1.5% y/y) last month. A 182,000 increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The rise followed a 174,000 [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened to $47.6 billion in April, compared to $45.3 billion in March, initially reported as $43.7 billion, and $38.4 billion in April 2016. Expectations had been for a $45.8 billion [...]

The overall PPI (PPI excluding construction) rose by 0.1% in April after falling by 0.4% in March. The year-on-year pace is up to 4.3%, but the three-month change shows a 0.6% decline at an annualized rate. This unwinds the [...]

The May employment report sent mixed signals about labor market conditions. Nonfarm payrolls rose 138,000 (1.5% y/y) last month. A 182,000 increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The rise followed a 174,000 [...]

The euro area showed its manufacturing PMI gain in May as the manufacturing PMIs gains in three of the largest EMU economies. But there were step backs in 8 of these key 15 markets. There were also eight for which the three-month [...]

Light vehicle sales continue to soften. Total sales of light vehicles fell 1.3% during May to 16.66 million units (SAAR) from 16.88 million in April, according to the Autodata Corporation. Sales fell 3.0% y/y. During the first five [...]