News in end use

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Job Openings Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), there was a clear and sudden stop associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the construction labor market.

According to the latest Federal Reserve’s G.19 Consumer Credit Report, consumer credit, excluding loads secured by real estate, decreased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 19.6%, through April of 2020.

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) the U.S. is now officially in a recession, the worst downturn since the Great Depression.

According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s monthly Starts and Completion Survey for May 2020, the trend in housing starts was 196,750 units in May 2020, down from 198,644 units in April 2020.

In a deeper dive into the latest analysis of the NAHB Geography Index, single-family construction was shown to be growing at a faster pace in regions with lower population density.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) total nonfarm payroll in May rose by 2.5 million and the unemployment rate declined to 13.3%.

Many dealers are reporting that better than anticipated sales for April and May, have given way to a somewhat slower pace to start June.

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 1.877 million Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, May 30th.

Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ending June 4th, 2020. The PMMS shows that 30-year fixed-mortgage rate averaged 3.18% with an average 0.7 point.