Leading economic measures rebounded in July. Here are the five things we learned from U.S. economic data released during the week ending August 23.
Forward-looking economic indicators brightened a bit in July. The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index (LEI) jumped by a half-point to a reading of 112.2. This followed two monthly declines and left the LEI up a somewhat modest 1.6 percent over the past year. Only five of the LEI’s ten components made positive contributions to the index, led by housing building permits and jobless claims. A warning sign: manufacturing-related components pulled down the LEI. The coincident index added 2/10ths of a point to 106.2, up 1.8 percent from July 2018. Three of four coincident index components made positive contributions, led by nonfarm payrolls. The lagging index jumped by 7/10ths of a point to 108.5, leaving the measure up 3.5 percent over the past year. Four of seven lagging index components made positive contributions, led by the average duration of unemployment. The press release said the U.S. economy would likely expand “at a moderate pace” during the second half of 2019.
Existing sales improved in July. Sales of previously owned homes gained 2.5 percent during the month to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 5.42 million units. The National Association of Realtors’ measure was 0.6 percent ahead of its year-ago mark. Sales improved in three Census regions—the West, South, and Midwest—when compared to June but were only up in the South and Midwest when compared to a year earlier. Inventories tightened in July as the count of homes on the market slipped 1.6 percent to 1.89 million units. This was the equivalent to a 4.2 month supply. The median sales price of homes sold has risen 4.3 percent over the past year to $280,800.
But sales of new homes fell during the same month. The Census Bureau estimates new home sales slumped 12.8 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 635,000 units. This placed the annualized sales pace 4.3 percent below that of July 2018. New home sales fell in three of four Census regions during the month, with Northeast being the exception. Compared to a year earlier, however, sales have grown in the West, South, and Northeast. There was a 6.4 month supply of new homes on the market at the end of July with an inventory of 337,000 units (+1.2 percent versus June 2019 and +7.3 percent versus July 2018).
Jobless claims remained near multidecade lows in mid-August. The Department of Labor reports that the seasonally adjusted count of first-time claims made for unemployment insurance benefits dropped by 15,000 to 209,000. This was 2.3 percent below that of a year earlier and continued a remarkable streak for the proxy of layoff activity of sub-300,000 claims going back five years (except for a handful of weeks). The 4-week moving average of first-time claims edged up by 500 to 214,500 (-0.7 percent versus the same week a year earlier). 1,704,365 people were receiving some form of unemployment insurance during the week ending August 3rd, essentially matching the count from the same week a year earlier.
Internet retailers continued to grab market share during Q2. The Census Bureau indicates that sales at U.S. e-commerce retailers grew 4.2 percent during the three months from April to June to a seasonally adjusted $146.2 billion. Total retail sales were $1.362 trillion over the same period (up only 1.6 percent from the prior quarter), meaning internet retailers owned 10.7 percent of all sales during the quarter. E-commerce sales have risen 13.3 percent over the past year with the four-quarter comparable for all retail sales at 3.2 percent.
Other U.S. economic data released over the past week:
– FOMC Minutes
The opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of Kevin’s current employer. No endorsements are implied.
What We Learned About the U.S. Economy Last Week 