Starting with the U.S. Labor Day holiday on Monday, this week was a light data week that ends on a sobering note with the passing yesterday of Queen Elizabeth II and the 9/11 anniversary on Sunday. The ISM services index came in stronger than expected, and the underlying details pointed to service sector resilience with business activity and new orders notching their highest reading this year.
A majority of the selected industry comments from purchasing managers pointed to supply chain challenges affecting business. But the related components of the ISM suggest bottlenecks are improving somewhat, or at least not getting worse. The supplier deliveries component fell 3.3 points last month and that, on top of the 4.1-point drop in July, puts the index at its lowest point in over two years. The easing in delivery times also helped alleviate order backlog, which fell 4.4 points to 53.9 last month.
Initial jobless claims came in a bit cooler than expected, although continuing claims were a bit worse than anticipated. As we wrote in a recent report, data on individuals filing for unemployment do not suggest the economy is currently in a recession. Claims have ticked higher, but off of an incredibly low base amid a historically tight labor market. Even with the recent increase in continuing claims, the total number of people collecting unemployment benefits is still roughly 300K below February 2020 levels. For now, the jobless claims data are sending a similar signal to the ISM services index: The U.S. economy is slowing down but not outright contracting.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 19 June 2020
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Jun 22, 2020
Retail sales kicked off the week with a bang, rising 17.7% month-over-month in May. The increase was larger than every single one of the 74 forecast submissions.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 15 April 2022
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Apr 18, 2022
What do pollen and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) have in common? Answer; both are hitting new highs. This week’s U.S. economic data was led by the largest month monthly increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) since September 2005.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 28 May 2021
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Jun 08, 2021
This week\'s light calendar of economic reports showed supply chain disruptions tugging a little at economic growth.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 02 December 2022
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Dec 08, 2022
Total payrolls rose by 263K in November, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 3.7% and average hourly earning rising by 0.6%.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 10 November 2020
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Nov 17, 2020
The U.S. election has come and gone, but we have not made any meaningful changes to our economic outlook, which continues to look for further expansion in the U.S. economy in coming quarters.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 26 July 2024
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Jul 30, 2024
Economic growth defied expectations in the second quarter. Real GDP expanded at a 2.8% annualized rate, a sizable acceleration from 1.4% in Q1.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 23 December 2020
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Dec 26, 2020
Vaccines are here, but they are not yet widely available in a way that can stem the spread of a disease that grows by 200K a day.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 11 February 2022
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Feb 14, 2022
Deep thought for the week, if a tree falls in the forest, or an Olympics occurs, and no one is there to hear it or see it, did it really occur?
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 07 April 2023
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Apr 10, 2023
Employers added jobs at the slowest pace since 2020 in March, job openings fell and an upward trend in initial jobless claims has emerged.
This Week's State Of The Economy - What Is Ahead? - 10 September 2021
Wells Fargo Economics & Financial Report / Sep 13, 2021
Data from the opening weekend of College Football indicates that we will have to endure another season of Nick Saban deification.
