- Initial claims for unemployment insurance declined by 4,000 in the week ended June 28.
- Total number of beneficiaries was unchanged in the week of June 21 week.
- The insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.3%.
USA| Jul 03 2025U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Decreased in Latest Week
Global| Jul 02 2025Charts of the Week: Headwinds and Heatwaves
Financial markets have remained generally buoyant in recent days, with global equity indices advancing on the back of relatively upbeat global growth data, benign European inflation readings and the prospect of further policy easing from major central banks. At the same time, the US dollar has continued to weaken, reflecting a run of disappointing US economic data and rising investor concerns about the fiscal outlook, even as European growth surprises have turned more positive. This divergence, combined with the prospect of lower US policy rates relative to some (though not all) peers, has added to the dollar’s drift lower (charts 1 and 2). Supply chain strains—highlighted by elevated vessel queues at US West Coast ports—also feed into the narrative that US tariff measures may be contributing to sticky input costs and stagflation risks (charts 3 and 4). Meanwhile, record temperatures in parts of Europe this week have reinforced the climate challenge facing policymakers, with the final two charts illustrating how rising global temperatures and heat stress could increasingly weigh on productivity and growth potential if left unchecked. With trading volumes light ahead of the July 4th holiday and markets awaiting tomorrow’s US non-farm payrolls report, the interplay between softer US data, resilient equities, a weaker dollar, and climate-related risks remains firmly in focus.
by:Andrew Cates
|in:Economy in Brief
USA| Jul 02 2025U.S. ADP Payroll Employment Unexpectedly Declines in June
- Employment declines in several service industries; factory & building industry jobs rise.
- Wage growth moderates further.
- Small- & medium-sized shed jobs.
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
USA| Jul 02 2025U.S. Mortgage Applications Rise 2.7% in the June 27 Week
- Purchase applications edge up 0.1% w/w; refinancing loan applications jump 6.5% w/w.
- Effective interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate loans drops to 6.97%, the lowest since the Apr. 4 week.
- Average loan size rebounds to the highest level since the May 9 week.
Global| Jul 02 2025Unemployment Rates Remain Low, Stable
The EU unemployment rate fell to within a tick of its all-time low in April at 5.9% and stayed there in May. In the European Monetary Union (EMU), the unemployment rate in April fell from 6.4% in March to 6.2% in April, its all-time low; then in May it ticked up to 6.3%. This can hardly be construed as a weakening of the European labor market.
At the same time, the EMU HICP has registered 2% growth year-over-year in June. In May it was at 1.9% with the core up at a 2.4% rise year-over-year. In June, Italian and Spanish core readings are 2.1% and 2.2%, respectively. In Germany, ex-energy inflation is at 2.5%. The core for the EMU is not yet available but clearly inflation, broadly considered, is very close to touching all the bases the ECB wants it to touch. And at the same time, Europe’s rate of unemployment is at or near all-time lows at least since the EMU was formed. That looks almost like policy nirvana.
The Monetary Union is experiencing low inflation rates even for those countries (largely Mediterranean countries) that had stubbornly high inflation rates in the past. Interestingly, those formerly high-inflation countries have substantially reduced their rates of unemployment. In the U.S., it was the long low, extra-low, inflation span after the Great recession that brought the inflation rate down slowly but eventually to 50–60-year lows. The U.S. rate got to 3.5% under Trump and briefly to 3.4% under Biden. Now with similar inflation progress -and for the EMU, there is a long train of progress not looking just since Covid but looking at the collective progress since the EMU was formed.
Among the 12 EMU members listed in the table, only three Luxembourg, Finland, and Austria have unemployment rates above their median rate compared to data since 1994. Spain’s unemployment rate is still in double digits at 10.8% but is much lower than it used to be. The Greek unemployment rate is at 7.9%; Portugal’s is at 6.3%. Spain’s unemployment rate is in the 15th percentile of its ordered queue of rates; the Greek rate has been lower only 3% of the time; in Portugal, the current rate has been lower less than 20% of the time. Low inflation and low unemployment go hand in hand. But when they diverge, the solution is not to coddle unemployment. It is to backdown inflation to allow the economy to move forward thereafter and prosper with lower inflation and lower unemployment in the future. I don’t think this lesson has been broadly enough learned, but looking at Europe and the U.S. the lesson simply presents itself with exceptional clarity.
USA| Jul 01 2025U.S. Light Vehicle Sales Slip in June
- Light truck sales ease while auto sales improve.
- Domestic sales tumble but imports increase.
- Imports' market share recovers May decline.
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
USA| Jul 01 2025U.S. ISM Factory Index Edges Higher in June
- Reading remains below expansion level for fourth straight month.
- Production & inventory readings improve; new orders & employment weaken.
- Prices index remains near three-year high.
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
USA| Jul 01 2025U.S. Construction Spending Registers a String of Declines in May
- Headline: -0.3% m/m, the seventh straight m/m fall; -3.5% y/y, the deepest y/y drop since May ’11.
- Residential private construction -0.5% m/m, led by a 1.8% fall in single-family building.
- Nonresidential private construction -0.4% m/m, the third straight m/m slide.
- Public sector construction +0.1% m/m, led by a 1.4% gain in residential public building.
- of10Go to 9 page