US New and existing home sales in April were released and both slipped further than expected. New homes sales were down 11.4% on the month and existing sales were down by 2.3%. April’s 569,000-unit pace of new home sales follows an upwardly revised 642,000-unit pace in March which marks the cycle-high for the series. Sales [...]
US Industrial production jumped 1.0% in April, surpassing expectations for a more modest increase. The series is now 2.2% above its year-ago level, which marks the strongest pace since 2014. The report details showed broad-based strength, as production rose across most household and business goods. Notably, manufacturing output climbed 1.0% on the month, and with [...]
US The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Small Business Optimism Index kicked off the week with a small decline of 0.2 points in April. The decline was led by a drop in expectations for improvement in the economy, which fell 8 points following the initial unsuccessful attempt to replace the Affordable Care Act. Despite [...]
US The ISM manufacturing index showed factory sector activity had cooled a bit in April. The reading of 54.8 was the third consecutive decline and was lower than consensus. At 54.8, however, the index remains firmly in expansion territory and signals a clear improvement relative to the past couple years. The ISM’s service sector counterpart [...]
