US New home sales posted a 9.4% monthly drop in July to a 571,000-unit pace, but June’s print was revised up 20,000 units to 630,000. While 9.4% in one month is eye-catching, new home sales are notoriously volatile and gains or drops of that magnitude are not unheard of. July’s print was more of a [...]
US US retail sales rose 0.6% to kick off the third quarter, topping expectations for a 0.3% gain. The strength in retail sales was broad based, with motor vehicle and parts dealers’ sales increasing 1.2% and building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers’ sales increasing 1.2% after registering a 1.1% gain in June. Even [...]
US CPI consensus had estimated prices increased at a 0.2% pace in July, for both the headline and core CPI. The print came in softer than forecasted for the fourth consecutive month, as both headline and core rose 0.1% in July. Both are up 1.7% year-on-year. The report did colour the inflation story in a [...]
US US personal income was flat in July despite expectations for a 0.4% gain. The headline miss masked a quirk in the details, however, as much of the decline was due to a sharp fall in farm income. Wages and salaries increased a solid 0.4%. Real spending rose 0.1% on the month and at a [...]
US US economic growth bounced back in the second quarter, up 2.6 % after a downwardly revised 1.2 % growth in Q1. US residential fixed investment fell 6.8 % in Q2 following its impressive 11.1 % increase in the first quarter. Mild weather was a boost to construction in the winter months, which was partially [...]
US The ISM manufacturing index kicked off the fireworks a day early on Monday, climbing to 57.8 in June. This was the best print for the index since August 2014 when oil was still nearly $100 a barrel. The details of the report were broadly encouraging for both current and future activity. The production subcomponent [...]
US The US economy expanded 1.4% in the first quarter of the year, which was a larger-than-expected upgrade in the final look at GDP this week. The improvement was largely on the personal consumption line, which actually rose 1.1% in Q1, much stronger than the 0.3% first estimated. Still somewhat soft relative to recent performance, [...]
US In the US housing market, single-family and multifamily starts and permits fell in May despite the still-elevated level of builder sentiment. Relieving some of the worries, existing home sales came in stronger than expected in May, rising 1.1% to a 5.62 million-unit pace. Existing home sales are used to calculate broker commissions in the [...]
US The FOMC raised its short-term target rate 25 basis points at its June meeting to 1.25%, and published an addendum to lay the foundation for normalising the Fed’s balance sheet, with the caveat economic activity “evolves broadly as anticipated.” It is that anticipation that is causing the latest divergence in views between the Fed [...]
US In the US, the most striking piece of data from this past week was the surge in job openings in April. Openings rose a sizeable 259,000, surpassing 6.0 million in total and marking a new all-time high for the series. This is an encouraging development, as the labor market continues to create jobs at [...]
