Purchasing Managers Index — Nonmanufacturing
March 4, 2026 The Institute for Supply Management not only publishes an index of manufacturing activity each month, they publish two days later a survey of service sector firms. The business activity index for the service sector climbed 2.5 points in February .to...
Purchasing Managers Index
March 2, 2026 The Institute for Supply Management’s index of conditions in the manufacturing sector declined 0.2 point in February to 52.4 after having jumped 4.7 points in January. The January and February levels are the first time this index has been above the...
The Affordability Problem
February 27, 2026 Almost everything we buy these days is less affordable than it was prior to the 2020 recession. The prices of almost everything have risen more quickly than our income. Between the increase in mortgage rates and skyrocketing home prices in the...
Construction Spending
February 27, 2026 Construction spending (the green bars above) rose 0.3% in Decemver after declining 0.2% in November.. This indicator was essentially unchanged in 2025. In the past 12 months it has declined 0.4%. Private construction spending (excluding the...
Producer Price Index
February 27, 2026 . The Producer Price Index for final demand includes producer prices for goods, as well as prices for construction, services, government purchases, and exports and covers over 75% of domestic production. Producer prices for final demand rose 0.5%...
Initial Unemployment Claims
February 26, 2026 Initial unemployment claims rose 4 thousand to 212 thousand in the week ending February 21 after having declined 21 thousand in the previous week. The number of people receiving unemployment benefits declineed 31 thousand in the week ending...
Consumer Confidence
February 24, 2026 . The Conference Board reported that consumer confidence roe 2.2 points in February to91.2 after having declined 5.2 points in Janauay. Consumer confidence reached a peak in November of 2024 at 112.8 but fell steadily last year and remains...
Case Shiller Index of Home Prices
February 24, 2026 The seasonally adjusted Case Shiller Index of Home Prices in 20 cities rose 0.5% in both November and December. Prices have risen 1.4% in the past year. The National Index which is a slightly broader measure of home price rose 0.4% in December...
Government Shutdown Retards End of Year Growth
February 20, 2026 Fourth quarter GDP growth came in at 1.4%. Nobody expected that. The consensus was for growth in that quarter of about 3.0%. But the headline figure is grossly misleading because of the government shutdown. The Bureau of Economic Analysis...
New Home Sales
February 20, 2026 New home sales fell 1.7% in Dece,ber to 745 thousand after jumping 15.5% in November. I n the past year new home sales have risen 3.8%. New home sales can be volatile from month to month but they certainly seen to have picked up some speed in...
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