Succinct Summation of Week’s Events 4.27.18 (plus American families wealth)

Once again it is time for the weekly summation with the good news being that Q1 continues to go way beyond expectations and we have the lowest jobless claims in many years.  The bad news is a decline in durable goods orders and imports falling while exports rise, thereby shrinking the goods deficit (though I'm not sure why this would be a negative.)  The bonus this week is another informative eye-shot courtesy of Barry Ritholtz's Sunday reading list.  This graphic shows that, as of 2016, American families have reached a new low, that is a new high in terms of percentage of households that have no net worth except for the equity in their homes.  Nearly 1 in 3 families fall into this category, the highest in modern history.  The reading list also includes another interesting contrarian article making the case that climbing deficits aren't necessarily bad.  Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend.  I'm told we're finally going to have real spring weather sometime this week! 

Succinct Summation of Week’s Events 4.27.18

April 27, 2018 5:30pm by Barry Ritholtz

Succinct Summations for the week ending April 27th, 2018

Positives:

1. First quarter GDP rose 2.3%.
2. Durable goods orders rose 2.6%, beating the expected 1.7%.
3. Jobless claims fell 21k, down from 232k to 209k.
4. Existing home sales rose 1.1%, beating expectations; New home sales rose to 694k, above the 630k expected.
5. PMI Composite rose to 54.8, up .5 from prior 54.3.
6. Consumer confidence rose to 128.7, up 1 from previous 127.7.
7. Wholesale inventories rose 0.5% for the month of March.

Negatives:

1. Core durable goods orders in March disappointed. Non defense capital goods orders ex aircraft fell 0.1% m/o/m, versus estimate up 0.5%.
2. Retail inventories fell .4% for the month of March.
3. Mortgage applications remain unchanged w/o/w after previous rise of 6%.
4. Imports fell 2.1% while exports rose 2.5%, decreasing the goods deficit.
5. Chicago Fed National Activity Index fell to .10% for March, .88% lower than previous.

 Sun 4-29-18 10 Sunday Reads - The Big Picture