This just in from the BLS: Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending October 17 came in at 787k against an estimate of 870k while the prior week’s total of 898k was revised to 842k. Continuing Claims for the week ending October 10th fell to 8.37M versus analysts expectations of

Despite the passing of yesterday’s deadline, Speaker Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin are still reportedly negotiating over the details of another fiscal stimulus package. Market sentiment seems to suggest that investors perceive a likelihood that ongoing discussions will produce a deal. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters

Investors learned this morning that Housing Starts rose 1.9% in September and that was less than the 3.5% gain that was forecast. August’s plunge of 5.1% was revised to a plunge of 6.7%. Also announced today was a 5.2% rise in new Building Permits that beat estimates of a 3%

Discussions that took place over the weekend between Speaker Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin have, once again, buoyed investors hopes that another round of fiscal stimulus may soon be agreed upon. Speaker Pelosi has set a deadline of Tuesday for an agreement to be reached. That, along with positive economic

Surprisingly good news from the Census Bureau came our way this morning with a report that Retail Sales rose by 1.9% last month and that beat the estimates looking for a rise of just 0.8%. Without autos, the gain was 1.5% versus an estimate of only 0.4%. August’s rise of

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this morning that, for the week ending October 10th, Initial Jobless Claims rose by 898k against an estimate of 825k. The prior week’s count of 840k was revised to 845k. Continuing Claims for the week ending October 3rd came in at 10.02M, lower than

In a report this morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that its headline Producer Price Index rose by 0.4% in September and that was twice the rise that analysts expected. Last month’s gain took the year-over-year rate to 0.4% from August’s minus 0.2%. Without food and energy, core PPI

Early this morning, the National Federation of Independent Businesses began the week with an announcement that its Small Business Optimism Index took a leap in September to 104 from 100.2 while analysts were only expecting a slight improvement to 100.9. Following that, the BLS reported that the headline Consumer Price

Investors around the world are waiting to see if America comes through with another fiscal aid package. This week has seen hopes rise and fall and, according to this morning’s news reports, talks between Nancy Pelosi and Steve Mnuchin are ongoing. Today is light on data and attention is focused

The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced this morning that, for the week ending October 3rd, Initial Jobless Claims rose by 840k against an estimate of 820k. The prior week’s tally of 837k was revised to 849k. Continuing Claims for the week ending September 26th did manage a drop to 10.98M,

Despite yesterday’s Presidential tweet calling for a halt to Congressional negotiations over fiscal stimulus, the President has since expressed his willingness to approve stand-along bills that would provide targeted relief to individuals, small businesses, and airlines. Equity markets are recovering much of yesterday afternoon’s sell-off in pre-opening trading. Treasury prices

Just moments ago, the President announced that he has instructed his negotiation team to end its efforts to hammer out the next fiscal stimulus deal until after the election. The news has caught market participants by surprise and has pushed Treasury prices up significantly. Prior to the announcement, the Ten-Year

It’s a quiet morning with not much in the way of data as investors wait to hear what Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has to say when he addresses the National Association for Business Economics a little later today. Nancy Pelosi and Steven Mnuchin will also be continuing their negotiations surrounding

Reports over the weekend and this morning continue to chronicle the improving condition of the President’s health as he battles COVID-19. His progress could mean he will soon be leaving the hospital and returning to the White House. Markets that were rocked by the news last Friday appear to be

The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced this morning that the Unemployment Rate fell to 7.9% last month while the 661k addition to Non-Farm Payrolls was less than the 859k gain that was forecast. The Unemployment Rate was only expected to fall to 8.2%, but was helped by a 0.3% drop