Succinct Summations for the week ending April 3rd, 2020
Positives:
1. 90% of the US is now under Shelter-in-Place orders, which should reduce the rate of infections and “flatten the curve;”
2. Pending home sales rose 2.4% m/o/m, above the expectations.
3. Home mortgage refinance apps rose 26.0%.
4. Home mortgage apps fell 11.0% w/o/w.
5. International trade gap narrowed from $-45.5B to $-39.9B in March.
6. PMI Mfg Index came in at 48.5 for March, above expectations.
7. ISM Non-Mfg Index came in at 52.5 for March, above expectations.
Negatives:
1. An inept White House continues to bumble the pandemic response, needlessly causing a US mortality result that will likely number in 100s of thousands.
2. Nonfarm payrolls fell 701k in March — worst since 2009.
3. Jobless claims rose to 6.648M.
4. Unemployment rate rose to 4.4% from the previous 3.9%.
5. Private payrolls came in at -27k, below the previous 179k.
6. Challenger Job Cut report has layoffs at 222,288 for March.
7. Construction spending fell 1.3% m/o/m, below expectations.
Thanks, Matt!
