Housing & Economy

Consumer Economics

Euro area annual inflation expected to rise to 7.0% in April from 6.9% in March; food, alcohol and tobacco expected to have the highest annual rate in April at 13.6%, followed by non-energy industrial goods at 6.2%: Eurostat
Eurostat (05/02)

European consumers cutting purchases of household, hygiene products from major firms like Unilever, P&G following price hikes of about 10% in Q1; European shoppers are either buying from cheaper brands or doing without, compared to slight rise in US sales
FARS News Agency (05/01)

Employee Compensation & Benefits

Trader Joe's union at Oakland store becomes certified by NLRB, a first for the chain in California; workers say they wanted to address long-standing concerns, including employees' physical safety, wages, benefits, pay discrepancies
San Francisco Chronicle (CA) (05/02)

Employee Well-Being / Satisfaction

Lubrizol Corporation receives four Responsible Care Awards for commitment to health, safety and environment; company reduced waste production and emissions, while increasing energy efficiency while demonstrating achievements in employee safety
Business Wire (05/02)

Energy Indicators

US average on-highway diesel fuel price in week ended May 1 decreased to US$4.018/gallon from US$4.077/gallon last week; average regular gasoline price decreased to US$3.600/gallon from US$3.656/gallon: EIA
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) (05/02)

Employment Statistics & Trends

Number of US job openings at 9.6 million on last business day of March, hires and total separations little changed at 6.1 million and 5.9 million, respectively; quits were little changed at 3.9 million, layoffs and discharges increased to 1.8 million: BLS
U.S. Dept. of Labor (DOL) (05/02)

When employees leave their jobs, those exits can lead to many others quitting, according to study from UBC Sauder School of Business; study is based on employment data for roughly 1 million employees from a major retailer
University of British Columbia (05/01)

Interest Rates

COMMODITY METALS-Copper falls after hitting one-week highs
CE Noticias Financieras (Latin America) (05/02)

Inflation

Aldi to open 120 US stores by end of 2023, bringing its total to over 2,400 locations; company believes momentum it saw in 2022 --about 9.4 million new shoppers and double-digit year-over-year growth-- will endure even as inflation eases
Grocery Dive (05/01)

Premium pet food maker Petcurean donates 460,000 meals of its GO! SOLUTIONS cat food to rescue groups and pet food banks across Canada; donation comes as rising inflation, cost of living affects pet owners, leading to increased number of surrendered pets
Pet Insight Magazine (05/01)

New Homes

LGI Homes reports Q1 net income down 65.7% year-over-year to US$27.0M, home sales revenues fell 10.7% to US$487.4M, closings down 14.6% to 1,366 homes
LGI Homes Inc. (05/02)

US construction spending up 0.3% month-over-month in March, as growth in manufacturing and education drove up nonresidential construction spending; residential spending fell due to a 0.8% monthly contraction in single-family homebuilding: AGC of America
The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC of America) (05/01)

Residential Construction & Real Estate

Alaska legislature passes bill that aims to make locally milled lumber more widely available for homebuilding; if signed into law, it would establish free lumber grade training through Division of Forestry, allow certified mill operators to grade lumber
Peninsula Clarion (Kenai, AK) (05/02)

D.R. Horton's fiscal Q2 net income fell 34% year-over-year to US$942.2M, consolidated revenues at US$8.0B; net sales orders declined 5% to 23,142 homes and fell 11% in value to US$8.6B, while homes closed decreased 1% to 19,664 homes
D.R. Horton Inc. (05/01)

Commercial Construction & Real Estate

Eaton wins US$16.0M contract to provide intelligent power systems for University of Michigan's new D Dan and Betty Kahn Health Care Pavilion; 12-story, 690,000 square-foot hospital set to open in 2025 with 264 beds for adult patients.
MarketLine (05/01)

US senators reintroduce Forest Incentives Program Act to support sustainable forest management and conservation; additionally, non-residential building owners would be incentivized to use less energy-intensive products such as wood for construction
Targeted News Service (Press Releases) (05/01)

Corporate Management

Self-driving tech firm Wayve names Frank Fink as director of Automotive Partnerships to commercialize self-driving technology with global automotive OEMs
Associated Press (05/02)

Tetra Pak recognized as a European Climate Leader 2023 by the Financial Times for its progress in reducing GHG emissions and its robust commitments to climate action; Tetra Pak ranked among top 20% of the 500 companies listed
The Tetra Laval Group (05/02)

Corporate Finance

Revlon completes financial restructuring, emerges from Chapter 11 as a private firm with about US$236M of liquidity funded through equity rights offering, new money senior secured credit facility, asset-based loans; firm is named Revlon Group Holdings LLC
Business Wire (05/02)

Corporate Economics

S&P Global/CIPS UK Manufacturing PMI in April edged down to 47.8 from 47.9 in March; output and new orders contracted, as firms attributed the decrease in demand to client destocking and efforts to cut costs
S&P Global Inc. (05/02)

S&P Global Canada Manufacturing PMI increased to 50.2 in April from 48.6 in March; output and employment increased, while order books fell modestly
S&P Global Inc. (05/01)

Small Businesses

Forty-nine percent of small restaurant businesses in the US unable to pay the rent in April, marking the highest rate of delinquencies so far this year and up from 34% in March, according to new data from Alignable
Nation's Restaurant News (05/01)

Country Economics

Spain's Tax Agency says budgetary impact of reducing value-added tax from 10% to 4% for sanitary towels, tampons and non-medicinal contraceptives has totaled just €2M from January to March this year; Tax Authority had estimated loss of €24M/year
CE Noticias Financieras (Latin America) (05/01)

Thousands   |   Latest: May/22

Total, Seasonally Adjusted   |   Latest: 12/31/23

Total, Not Seasonally Adjusted   |   Latest: 12/31/23

Total, Seasonally Adjusted   |   Latest: 12/31/23

%   |   Latest: Mar/23

%   |   Latest: Apr/23

%   |   Latest: 04/27/23

Real/US$   |   Latest: 05/02/23

Index 1985=100   |   Latest: Apr/23

Leading Indicators

Interactive Chart: Click on legend/key to see full view on your dashboard

Interactive Chart: Click on legend/key to see full view on your dashboard

Sources: Industry Intelligence Inc.,Census Bureau