2/26– Weekly Economic Highlights
Treasury yields climbed this week, with the 10-year Treasury yield rising roughly 12 basis points from last Friday to 1.45% (up 54 basis points year-to-date), and the 5-year Treasury yield rising 19 basis points week-over-week to 0.77% (up 41 basis points year-to-date), at the time of this report. Meanwhile, the short end of the Treasury […]
2/19– Weekly Economic Highlights
Following a somewhat sluggish holiday shopping season, retail sales picked up in January assisted by another round of federal relief checks. On a year-over-year basis, retail sales were up 7.4% in January versus up 2.5% in December. On a month-over-month basis, retail sales jumped 5.3% in January, following a 1.0% decline in December and a […]
2/12– Weekly Economic Highlights
During a virtual presentation for the Economic Club of New York this week, Fed Chair Powell cautioned that the labor market remains a long way from a full recovery. He noted that the reported unemployment rate is dramatically understating the weakness, due in part to a significant decline in labor force participation. He said the […]
2/5– Weekly Economic Highlights
The labor market remained under pressure in January. U.S. nonfarm payrolls were up just 49,000 in January, versus the Bloomberg consensus forecast of 105,000. December payrolls were revised down by 87,000 to ‑227,000. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the increase in January payrolls was led by an 80,900 net gain in temporary help services and […]
1/29– Weekly Economic Highlights
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) kept monetary policy unchanged at their meeting this week as expected, with the fed funds target rate in a range of 0.0% to 0.25%. The Fed also continues to purchase $80 billion of Treasuries per month, and $40 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities per month. The decision among voting […]
1/22– Weekly Economic Highlights
Housing market momentum remained solid heading into 2021. Total housing starts increased 5.8% in December to an annual pace of 1,669,000 (the strongest rate since 2006). Single family starts jumped 12.0% to an annualized rate of 1,338,000, while multi-family starts declined 13.6% to an annualized rate of 331,000. On a year-over-year basis, total housing starts […]
1/15– Weekly Economic Highlights
Retail sales momentum slowed during the holiday shopping season. On a year-over-year basis, retail sales were up 2.9% in December versus 3.7% in November. On a month-over-month basis, retail sales declined 0.7% in December, following a 1.4% decline in November. The month-over-month declines were broad-based in December on a seasonally adjusted basis, with outsized declines […]
1/8– Weekly Economic Highlights
U.S. nonfarm payrolls declined by 140,000 in December. It was the first monthly decline in nonfarm payrolls since April of last year and came in well below expectations for a 50,000 gain. The monthly decline was led by the leisure and hospitality sector which experienced a 498,000 net decline in payrolls in December, along with […]
12/31– Weekly Economic Highlights
After several months of tense negotiations, Congress compromised on a $900 billion fiscal relief package, and President Trump signed the bill on Sunday. This latest relief package follows about $2.7 trillion approved earlier this year. The legislation provides funding for a variety of programs and includes another round of direct household payments, an extension of […]
12/18– Weekly Economic Highlights
Recent economic data suggests that the economy has lost momentum as virus cases have risen. We anticipated that economic data would soften during the winter months, and believe the near-term outlook remains challenging as the labor market remains under pressure, many regions have renewed business restrictions due to the virus, and fiscal support remains delayed. […]