Marketwatch 666

Widely watched economic reports that were released this week included the April advance report on durable goods and the April report on new home sales , both from the Census bureau, and the Existing Home Sales Report for April from the National Association of Realtors….this week also saw the​ ​release​ of the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) for April , a weighted composite index of 85 different economic metrics, which fell to –0.23 in April from –0.04 in March, in an index where any negative reading indicates economic activity has been below the historical trend …despite the April decrease, the widely watched 3 month average of the CFNAI rose to +0.01 in April from –0.17 in March, which thus indicates that national economic activity has averaged slightly above the historical average over those most recent months… In addition to that national index, the index from another regional Fed manufacturing survey for May was also released this week: the Kansas City Fed manufactu...

Regular monthly reports that were released this week included the April Consumer Price Index , the April Producer Price Index and the April Import-Export Price Index from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Retail Sales report for April and the Manufacturing and Trade, Inventories and Sales report for March (pdf), both from the Census Bureau, the April report on Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization from the Fed, and the April report on New Residential Construction , also from the Census Bureau…in addition, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary for April this week, which breaks down the two employment surveys from the monthly national jobs report by state and region….while the text of that report provides a useful summary of this data, the serious statistical aggregation can be found in the tables linked at the end of the report, where one can find the civilian labor force data and the change in payrolls by ind...

It was a light week for economic data; the only report we usually cover tht was released this week was the Wholesale Trade, Sales and Inventories report for March from the Census Bureau….meanwhile, the Fed released the Consumer Credit Report for March on Monday of this week, and it showed that overall consumer credit​, a measure of non-real estate debt, had grown by a seasonally adjusted $6.3 billion in March, or at a 1.5% annual rate, as non-revolving credit expanded at a 2.0% annual rate to $3,721.1 billion, while revolving credit outstanding grew at a 0.1% rate to $1,337.8 billion…for the first quarter of 2024, consumer credit increased at a 3.2% seasonally adjusted annual rate, as non revolving credit increased at a 2.2% rate while revolving credit increased at a 5.7% rate… The week’s major privately issued report was the Mortgage Monitor for May (covering March data) from ICE Black Knight Financial Services, which indicated that 3.20% of all mortgages were delinquent in March...

Major economic reports released the past week include​d the Employment Situation Summary for April and the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for March, both from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and three March reports that include metrics which were estimated in last week’s advance estimate of 1st quarter GDP: the Commerce Dept report on our international trade in goods and services for March , and the March report on Construction Spending (pdf) and the Full Report on Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders for March , both from the Census Bureau…This week also saw the release of the last regional Fed manufacturing survey for April: the Dallas Fed Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey , covering Texas, western Louisiana and eastern New Mexico, reported their general business activity composite index was nearly unchanged at –14.5 in April, down from –14.4 in March, continuing to indicate that a majority of Texas manufacturers again reported deteriorating business c...