Succinct Summation of Week’s Events 5.15.20 (plus Coronavirus Polling)

Below please find the usual Sunday night weekly summation, the main positive this week being the progress that has been made in potential COVID-19 treatments and that consumer sentiment is on the rise. The big negative of course is the disproportionately large number of infections and deaths in the U.S. compared to the rest of the world.  The  bonus this Sunday night is a very encouraging graphic that in a single eye-shot give us a very concise view of where the public stands on various coronavirus related matters.  It is very encouraging that such a large percentage of the public not only agree with the precautionary measures but taking them very seriously.  It may even mean we'll avoid a second wave.  Stay dry and stay safe. 


Succinct Summation of Week’s Events 5.15.20

May 15, 2020 5:30pm by Barry Ritholtz

Succinct Summations for the week ending May 15th, 2020

Positives:

1. Promising advances in potential Covid-19 treatments;
2. Business inventories fell 0.2%, below expectations.
3. Home mortgage apps rose 11.0% w/o/w, above the previous increase of 6.0%.
4. NFIB Small Business Optimism Index came in at 90.0 for April, above expectations.
5. Atlanta Fed business expectations rose 1.5% y/o/y
6. Consumer sentiment came in at 73.7 for May, above expectations.

Negatives:

1.  USA has only 5% of global population, but 30% of Covid-19 deaths/infection.
2. Jobless claims came in at 2.981M for the week, above expectations.
3. Retail sales fell 16.4% m/o/m, below expectations.
4. Job openings fell 813k in March from 7.004M to 6.191M.
5. CPI fell 0.8% m/o/m, below the previous decrease of 0.4%.
6. PPI-FD fell 1.3% m/o/m, below the expected decrease of 0.5%.
7. Industrial production fell 11.2% m/o/m.