Marketwatch 666

Last week’s major economic releases included both of the major monthly employment reports: the Employment Situation Summary for May and the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for April, both from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in addition to the April report on Construction Spending (pdf), and the Full Report on Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders for April , with both of those from the Census Bureau.…in addition, late on Friday the Fed released the Consumer Credit Report for April , which showed that overall consumer credit, a measure of non-real estate personal debt, expanded by a seasonally adjusted $20.7 billion, or at a 4.8% annual rate, as non-revolving credit expanded at a 2.9% rate to $3,804.4 billion while revolving credit outstanding grew at a 10.4% rate to $1,348.7 billion…… Privately issued reports released last week included the ADP Employment Report for May , wherein the national payroll processor reported a 122,000 increase in private jobs in...

Major economic reports released last week included the Employment Situation Summary for April and the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for March, both from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Commerce Department’s report on our international trade in goods and services for March , and the March report on Construction Spending (pdf), the March report on new home sales , the Full Report on Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders for March , and the Wholesale Trade, Sales and Inventories report for March , all from the Census Bureau….in addition, the Fed released the Consumer Credit Report for March on Thursday of this week, which indicated that overall consumer credit, a measure of non-real estate debt, had grown by a seasonally adjusted $24.8 billion in March, or at a 5.8% annual rate, as non-revolving credit expanded at a 2.7% annual rate to $3,682.2 billion, while revolving credit outstanding grew at a 9.1% rate to $1,337.0 billion…for the first quarter of 2...

It appears that the January report on Construction Spending was the only widely watched economic report released last week, not surprising given the 13 monthly releases over the prior two weeks, and as we are still lagging a normal schedule on about half of the usual monthly releases in the wake of last October’s shutdown…this week also saw the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) for February , a weighted composite index of 85 different economic metrics, which fell to –0.11 in February from +0.20 in January..…even with that February decrease, the more widely watched 3 month average of the CFNAI increased to –0.01 in February from –0.02 in January, which, as a negative figure near zero, indicates that national economic activity has been near the historical trend over the winter months.. The week also saw the results of two more regional Fed manufacturing surveys for March… the Richmond Fed Survey of Manufacturing Activity , covering an area that includes Virginia, Maryland, the...

Major economic reports released the past week included the Producer Price Index for January , and three December reports that included metrics that were only estimated in last week’s 4th quarter GDP release: the November and December reports on Construction Spending , the Full Report on Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders for December , and the December report on Wholesale Trade, Sales and Inventories , with all of those from the Census Bureau…. In addition, last week also saw the release the last three regional Fed manufacturing surveys for February: the Kansas City Fed manufacturing survey for February , covering western Missouri, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wyoming and northern New Mexico, reported its broadest composite index rose to 5 in February, up from 0 in January and 0 in December, indicating that a small plurality that region’s manufacturers saw improving business conditions in February; the Richmond Fed Survey of Manufacturing Activity , covering a...