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 [...]
USA Housing starts decreased 11.3% to 1,283K in August, a sharper decline than expected by consensus (1,439K). Adding to the disappointment, the previous month’s result was revised down from 1,452K to 1,447K. The August print was the lowest since July 2019, excluding the pandemic. The single-family (-4.3% to 941K) and the multi-unit (-26.3% to 342K) segments [...]
USA The Consumer Price Index rose a consensus-matching 0.6% in August. Prices in the energy segment shot up 5.6% on gains for gasoline (+10.6%) and fuel oil (+9.1%). The cost of food, meanwhile, advanced 0.2%. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy, progressed 0.3%, overshooting the +0.2% print expected by economists. Prices for ex-energy services [...]
USA The ISM Services Index bested consensus expectations and rose to 54.5, hitting the highest reading since February. The monthly upturn highlights ongoing strength in the service sector, which has shown little indication of slowing in response to higher interest rates. The headline index briefly fell into contraction—a reading below 50—in December 2022, but quickly rebounded [...]
USA Nonfarm payrolls rose 187K in August, a bit more than the median economist forecast calling for a +170K print. However, this positive surprise was held back by a -110K cumulative revision to the previous month’s data. Employment in the goods sector advanced 36K as gains in construction (+22K) and manufacturing (+16K) were only partially offset [...]
USA Existing-home sales declined 2.2% in July to 4,070K (seasonally adjusted and annualized). Contract closings fell in both the single-family (-1.9% to 3,650K) and the condo (-4.5% to 420K) segments. Lower sales, combined with an increased number of homes available on the market (+3.7% to 1,110K), meant the inventory-to-sales ratio ticked up to 3.3. Despite increasing [...]
USA Retail sales advanced 0.7% in July, overshooting the +0.4% print expected by consensus. The prior month’s growth was revised up from +0.2% to +0.3%. Sales of motor vehicles and parts contributed negatively to the headline print as they eased 0.3% in the first month of Q3. Excluding autos, retail outlays rose a consensus-topping 1.0% as [...]
