USA Nominal personal income increased 0.2% in October, in line with the median economist forecast. The wage/salary component showed just a 0.7% gain, the smallest in 10 months, whereas income derived from government transfers edged down 0.7%. Personal current taxes, meanwhile, fell 0.2%. All this translated into a 0.3% increase in disposable income Nominal personal spending, for [...]
USA The S&P Global Flash Composite PMI remained unchanged in November at 50.7 and consistent with just a modest expansion in private sector activity. New orders returned to growth in the month after three consecutive contractions, but that did not prevent yet another decline in unfinished business. Reduced work backlogs in turn encouraged firms to cut [...]
USA The Consumer Price Index held steady in October instead of rising 0.1% as per consensus. This followed a 0.4% gain the prior month. Prices in the energy segment fell 2.5% in October as a 1.2% gain for utility gas services was more than offset by declines for gasoline (-5.0%) and fuel oil (-0.8%). The cost [...]
USA The trade deficit widened from $58.7 billion to $61.5 billion. Good imports increased $7.0-billion (to $263.0 billion), led by cell phones/other household goods (+$1.8 billion), passenger cars (+1.7 billion), and computer accessories (+$0.4 billion). Goods exports, for their part, climbed $5.3 billion on gains for civilian aircraft (+$1.0 billion), gem diamonds (+$0.8 billion), and other [...]
USA Nonfarm payrolls rose 150K in October, below the median economist forecast calling for a +180K print. This negative surprise was compounded by a -101K cumulative revision to the previous months’ data. Employment in the goods sector fell 11K as a 23K gain in the construction segment was more than offset by a 35K drop for [...]
USA Real GDP grew 4.9% annualized in the third quarter, more than the median economist forecast calling for a +4.5% print. YOY, real GDP expanded 2.9%. Domestic demand grew at a very healthy clip in the three months to September, supported by household consumption (+4.0% QoQ annualized) and structure (+1.6%), intellectual property (+2.6%), and residential (+3.9%) [...]
USA Retail sales advanced 0.7% in September, overshooting the +0.3% print expected by consensus. Adding to the good news, the prior month’s result was revised upward, from +0.6% to +0.8%. Sales of motor vehicles/parts contributed positively to the headline print as they advanced 1.0% in the final month of Q3. Without autos, retail outlays rose a [...]
USA The Consumer Price Index progressed 0.4% in September, a tick more than the +0.3% print expected by consensus. Prices in the energy segment advanced 1.5% as gains for fuel oil (+8.5%), gasoline (+2.1%), and electricity (+1.3%) were only partially offset by a 1.9% drop in the utility gas services segment. The cost of food, meanwhile, [...]
USA Nonfarm payrolls rose 336K in September, blowing past consensus expectations calling for a +170K print. This positive surprise was compounded by a 119K cumulative revision to the previous months’ data. Employment in the goods sector advanced 29K on gains in both manufacturing (+17K) and construction (+11K). Payrolls in the mining/logging segment (+1K) also rose, but [...]
USA The third estimate of Q2 GDP growth came in at +2.1% in annualized terms, unchanged from the second estimate but a nick shy of the median economist forecast (+2.2%). In addition, the series of historical data has been revised down a tad. Household consumption was revised down sharply (from +1.7% QoQ annualized to +0.8%) on [...]
