Succinct Summations week ending April 3rd
Positives:
1. Initial jobless claims fell to 268k, the lowest level in 15 years.
2. Euro-area economic sentiment rose to 103.9, the highest level in nearly four years.
3. Pending homes sales increased 3.1%, the highest reading since June 2013 and above the 0.3% expected rise.
4. Personal income rose 0.4%, better than the 0.3% expected rise.
5. S&P/Case-Shiller home price index rose 0.87% and 4.56% y/o/y, in line with expectations.
6. Markit manufacturing came in at 55.7, slightly better than the 55.3 expected.
7. The S&P 500 finished the quarter in the green for the ninth consecutive time.
8. Unemployment came in at 5.5% and wages rose 0.3% m/o/m and 2.1% y/o/y.
Negatives:
1. NFP came in at 126k vs expectations of 245k, the lowest number since December ‘13
2. US Private Payrolls added 189k jobs in March vs the 225k expected.
3. The Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index fell from -11.2 to -17.4 in March.
4. Consumer spending rose 0.1%, up from the -0.2% fall in February, but below the 0.2% expected change.
5. ISM manufacturing fell to 51.5, below the 52.5 expected and the slowest expansions since May 2013.
6. Construction spending fell 0.1% m/o/m, in line with expectations.
7. January and February payroll were revised lower by almost 70k.
Thanks, Mike!
and you thought the first amendment was for people?
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/04/how-corporations-took-over-the-first-amendment/389249/
This pro-con list is always a bit odd … for example:
How can someone who routinely (and properly, imo) derides forecasts and the alleged importance of them consider incoming data in line with expectations a positive? Isn’t it just neutral, versus a positive beat?
If Euro sentiment is improving, isn’t that a negative for those who think markets climb a wall of worry?
If we’re horribly overbuilt to begin with, isn’t a decline in construction spending a positive?
Anywho … http://www.globalwitness.org/library/statoil's-historic-disclosures-blow-holes-exxon-and-shell's-campaign-secrecy/ … is pretty good news – unless you are a current or decomposed dinosaur, that is.