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. […]