USA • The Federal Reserve published the minutes of its two-day policy meeting held March 15-16. All eyes were on the Fed's roadmap for future monetary policy tightening. About quantitative tightening (QT), the Fed mentioned that “it would be appropriate to begin this process at a coming meeting, possibly as soon as in May”. All [...]
USA • Nonfarm payrolls rose 431K in March, slightly less than the +490K print expected by consensus. A sizeable upward revision to the prior months’ results (+95K) more than compensated for that miss. Employment in the goods segment jumped 60K, with gains in manufacturing (+38K) and construction (+19K). Services-producing industries, meanwhile, expanded payrolls by 366K, [...]
USA • Markit’s flash composite PMI signaled a further recovery from January’s Omicron-induced slowdown. The headline index came in at 58.5 in March, up from 55.9 the month before and its highest mark since July. The manufacturing sector tracker jumped from 57.3 to 58.5 as output benefited from healthy job creation and less severe supply [...]
USA • Retail sales edged up 0.3% in February, a result roughly in line with consensus expectations (+0.4%). The previous month’s print, meanwhile, was revised from +3.8% to +4.9%. Sales of motor vehicles and parts advanced 0.8% but remained 4.3% below last April’s all-time high. Without autos, sales crept up 0.2% as gains for gasoline [...]
USA • The Consumer Price Index rose a consensus-matching 0.8% MoM in February after climbing 0.6% the prior month. The energy component advanced 3.5%, with strong gains for fuel oil (+7.7%), gasoline (+6.6%), and utility gas services (+1.5%). The cost of food, meanwhile, sprang 1.0%. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy, met consensus [...]
USA • The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics surprised the market with 678k jobs created in February, well above 400k anticipated by forecasters. This was on top of an upward revision of 92k to December and January. The unemployment rate fell to 3.8 % – the lowest reading since the pandemic, just 0.3 %age points [...]
USA • Markit’s flash composite PMI came in at 56.0 in February, up sharply from 51.1 the month before. Polled managers reported a “notable recovery in demand from COVID-related disruptions at the start of the year” and linked growth to “substantial gains in new business, employees returning from sick leave, increased travelling and greater availability [...]
USA • Retail sales expanded 3.8% in January, quite a bit more than the +2.0% print expected by consensus. The good news was partially offset by a downward revision to the prior month’s result from -1.9% to -2.5%. Sales of motor vehicles and parts jumped 5.7% MoM but remained 6.3% below last April’s all-time high. [...]
USA • The Consumer Price Index rose 0.6% MoM in January after climbing 0.5% the prior month. The January result was two ticks stronger than expected by consensus. The energy component rose 0.9% despite the gasoline segment retracing 0.8% in the month. The cost of food sprang 0.9%. The core CPI, which excludes food and [...]
USA • Nonfarm payrolls rose 467K in January, more than the +125K print expected by consensus. Adding to the good news, the prior months’ results were upgraded a massive 709K. Employment in the goods segment crept up 4K with gains in manufacturing (+13K) being partially offset by declines for both construction (-5K) and mining/logging (-4K). [...]
