Economy in Brief: June 2021

• Nonrevolving credit usage continues strong. • Revolving credit balances decline. Consumer credit outstanding grew $18.6 billon during April, the same as in March, revised from $25.8 billion. February's increase was revised to $18.2 [...]

The incoming economic data over the past few days have – on the whole - painted a bright picture of the world economy. May's purchasing managers surveys for the US and Europe, published last week, suggested a broadly based improvement [...]

German orders ticked lower in April, dropping by 0.2% on weak domestic orders that fell by 4.3%; foreign orders in April rose by 2.7%. Both foreign and domestic orders were up strongly in March. Domestic orders also rose strongly in [...]

Retail sales volumes in the EMU fell by 3.1% in April, shedding most of the 3.3% gain they logged in March. Sales volumes still are advancing at an 18.4% pace over three months. But they are lower at an 8.4% pace over six months and [...]

• Factory sector jobs improve but construction jobs fall. • Average hourly earnings are unexpectedly strong. • Unemployment rate moves sharply lower. As more individuals receive the COVID-19 vaccination and restrictions on businesses [...]

• April retreat less than half March gains. • April shipments added to March surge. • Order backlogs and inventories continued to rise. New orders for manufactured goods fell 0.6% m/m (+34.1% y/y) in April following an upwardly [...]

• Factory sector jobs improve but construction jobs fall. • Average hourly earnings are unexpectedly strong. • Unemployment rate moves sharply lower. As more individuals receive the COVID-19 vaccination and restrictions on businesses [...]

The weighted global manufacturing PMI from JPMorgan (see Global Mfg, at the table bottom) shows a tick up to 56.0 in May from 55.9 in June. The unweighted raw count of countries in the table with manufacturing sectors improving month- [...]