Robert Hughes

Pre-tax and after-tax personal income posted solid gains in May, rising 0.4 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Combined with a modest 0.1 percent in personal consumption expenditures, the personal saving rate rose to 5.5 percent, the highest since September. A broader measure of savings from the…

Revised data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis show the U.S. economy grew at a 1.4 percent annualized pace in the first quarter. That estimate compares to a 1.2 percent estimate last month and an original estimate of 0.7 percent released in April. The largest contributors to the upward revision were personal consumption expenditures and…

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) registered a -0.26 reading in May, down from +0.57 in April. The index is a composite of 85 different economic data series divided up into four groups. It is designed so that a reading of zero indicates economic activity is growing at its long-term trend rate while readings…

A day after the National Association of Realtors reported a 2.7 percent rise in existing-home sales for the year through May, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, a division of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, reported a 6.8 percent increase in home-purchase prices for the 12 months through April. Among the nine Census regions…

Existing-home sales rose a modest 1.1 percent in May, held back by a tight supply of available existing homes for sale. Compared to a year ago, existing-home sales were up 2.7 percent. The inventory of homes for sale rose 2.1 percent to 1.96 million, pushing the months’ supply (the total inventory divided by the current…

The Fed raised the target range for the federal funds rate by a quarter point yesterday to 1.0 − 1.25 percent, the fourth rate increase in the current business cycle and the second increase of 2017. The Fed also updated its Summary Economic Projections, known as the dot plots, though very little changed. The more…

On the day the Federal Reserve is expected to raise the target for the federal funds rate for the second time this year, key economic reports have posted declines showing broad weakness. Retail sales and the Consumer Price Index fell 0.3 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively, suggesting that despite a strong labor market and monetary…

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the number of open jobs in the United States topped 6 million for the first time. The total number of open jobs hit 6.044 million in April, pushing the openings rate (the number of open jobs divided by employment plus open jobs) to 4.0 percent, matching its highest…

Two reports from Institute for Supply Management both point to similar conclusions. The “Manufacturing Report on Business” and the “Non-Manufacturing Report on Business” both suggest economic activity continues to grow at a moderate pace, employment is rising further, and price pressures have diminished. The ISM’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index – a survey of purchasing managers’…