News in end use

According to the latest released Job-Cut Report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas (CG&C), Inc., U.S. based companies announced planned job cuts announced by U.S.-based employers fell 16.7% in June to 20,476 from the 24,586 announced in May.

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 364,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday June 26th, 2021.

The U.S. Census Bureau has announced that total construction spending during May 2021 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of $1,545.3 billion, -0.3% below the revised April estimate of $1,549.50 billion.

According to Statistics Canada (StatCan) real gross domestic product (GDP) contracted -0.3% in April. Ending 11 consecutive months of increases. With the first decline in 12 months, total economic activity remains about -1% below the level prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which started in February 2020.

The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) is reporting that their Pending Homes Sales Index (PHSI), which is based on signed real estate contracts, not actual closings, for existing single-family homes, condos, and co-ops, increased 8.0% to a reading of 114.7 in May.

According to the June ADP® National Employment Report™, nonfarm private sector employment private sector employment increased by 692,000 jobs from May to June.

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, for the week ending June 25th, 2021, the Market Composite Index , a measure of mortgage loan application volume decreased -6.9% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.

The Conference Board, a non-partisan, not-for-profit think tank, which was founded in 1916, released today (6-29-21) their Consumer Confidence Index® (CCI) for June 2021. The CCI improved further in June, following gains in each of the previous four months.

According to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, which covers all nine U.S. Census divisions, home prices experienced a 14.6% annual gain in April 2021, up from 13.3% in March. The 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 14.4%, up from 12.9% in the previous month.

According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI®) U.S. house prices increased 15.7% from April 2020 to April 2021. FHFA’s seasonally adjusted monthly index for April 2021, was up 1.8% from March 2021 upwardly revised 1.6% increase.