| Latest Release | Recent Trend | Notes | |
| Non Farm Employment | 138,000 | Negative | The jobs report disappointed economists who were expecting 185,000 jobs added. Previous release was also revised downwards. Unemployment is at a low 4.3% but wage pressure is still not building- wages only grew 0.2% |
| Weekly Claims for Unemployment Insurance | 248,000 | Positive | Jobless claims are at a 40 year low and point to a strong underlying employment situation. |
| ISM Manufacturing Index (Over 50 points to growth) |
54.9 | Positive | All underlying components new orders, production, export, import and employment are strong. Manufacturing sector is healthy and growing. |
| ISM Non-Manufacturing Index (Over 50 points to growth) |
56.9 | Positive | Like manufacturing non-manufacturing (services) is strong. |
| Latest Release | Recent Trend | Notes | |
| Consumer Prices (Month over month change) |
0.2% | Negative | Inflation is still soft despite growth in the economy. The concern is that this could hurt companies if they are not able to increase output prices in line with inputs prices. However, year over inflation looks better at 2.2% (1.9% if food and energy is removed) |
| Producer Prices (Month over month change) |
0.5% | Positive | Producer price index was very strong after a weak March number. Year over prices are up 2.5% and up 1.9% less energy and food. |
| Retail Sales | 0.4% | Negative | Retail sales is not keeping up with the very strong consumer confidence. Overall it is in decent shape but has shown some weakness this year. |
| Consumer Confidence (Conference Board) |
117.9 | Positive | Consumer confidence continues to be extremely strong. Consumers are feeling good about jobs and expected income. This could influence retail sales if employment continue to be strong |
| Durable Goods (Month over month change) |
-0.7% | Negative | Durable goods orders continue to be weak. It has been relatively weak throughout this cycle. The core orders were flat. Year over year core orders is up 2.9%. The hope is that the unusually strong CEO confidence will translate to investments. |
| Industrial Production | 1% | Positive | Industrial production is strong and has revered the softness seen earlier in the year. |
| Capacity Utilization | 76.7% | Negative | Although it is inching up, capacity utilization is still low indicating slack in the economy. |
| Housing Starts | 1.172MM | Negative | Housing starts is slowing down primarily because of multifamily homes. |
| Home Prices (Case-Shiller 20 city Index- Month over Month) | 0.9% | Positive | Home prices have been strong in 2017. The recent data was helped by big cities like NYC and Detroit that had previously lagged. Home prices are up about 6% for the year. |
| GDP (Real, Annualized) | 1.2% | Positive | First quarter GDP got a bump from revised consumer spending. The economy is growing but at a low rate- possibly because of several structural and secular reasons. |
Source: Bloomberg, www.federalreserve.gov, www.bls.gov, www.ism.ws, www.nahb.org.