The JOLTS report for February shows further *relative* weakening in the labor market
– by a New Deal Democrat The February JOLTS report showed a weakening of almost all major trends. The strongest component of the entire series is vacancies. I tend to…
Both manufacturing and construction continue to contract
– by a New Deal Democrat As usual, we start the month with data on last month’s manufacturing activity and the previous month’s construction activity. Both were negative this month.…
More on the sharp slowdown in year-over-year home price growth and the Fed’s ghost threat chase
– by a New Deal Democrat Since there is no big economic news again today, let me write a little more detail about the January house prices reported yesterday, relative…
3 graphic signs of financial stress
– by a New Deal Democrat The subject of my weekly “high-frequency” update on economic indicators over the weekend was the sudden deterioration in some measures of financial stress. Tomorrow…
Now there’s only one significant manufacturing data point that isn’t flat or down — but it’s the one the NBER is counting on
– by a New Deal Democrat I’m increasingly of the opinion that right now the only two economic data series that matter are non-farm payrolls and the personal consumption expenditure…
February existing home sales confirm prices have eased, but bottoming out in sales and construction may have occurred
– by a New Deal Democrat There were only two notable takeaways from February’s existing home sales report: (1) like mortgage applications, permits and starts, existing home sales responded to…