In August, US Durable Goods Orders were flat, outperforming expectations of a 2.6% decline, but falling short of July's robust 9.9% growth. Excluding transportation, orders showed improvement, rising by 0.5%, exceeding the 0.1% forecast, following a 0.1% decline in July. However, excluding defense, orders dropped by 0.2% in August, a sharp contrast to the 10.4% growth recorded in the previous month.
After a 5.5% month-over-month (MoM) decline in July, US Pending Home Sales increased by 0.6% in August, falling short of the 0.9% market expectations. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, sales improved from -8.5% in July to -3% in August.
New Home Sales in the United States fell to 716K units in August, a 4.7% decline from the 751K units sold in July.
According to the Conference Board's (CB) report, the United States Consumer Confidence Index dropped to 98.7 in September, missing the market estimate of 103.9. However, the initial August reading of 103.3 was revised upward to 105.6.
The Present Situation Index fell by 10.3 points to 124.3, while the Expectations Index declined by 4.6 points to 81.7, though it remained above 80, suggesting that recession fears continue to diminish.
The U.S. Commerce Department has proposed a ban on key Chinese software and hardware in connected vehicles, which would effectively block most Chinese cars from entering the U.S. market.
The regulation would also require automakers to remove Chinese technology from vehicles already sold in the U.S. The Biden administration cited concerns over data collection and potential foreign manipulation of connected vehicles as the primary reasons for this move.
The United States S&P Global Services PMI for September registered at 55.4, slightly above the 55.2 expectations but just below the 55.7 reading from August.
On the other hand, as has been the case in recent months, the S&P Global Manufacturing PMI missed the 48.6 estimate, coming in at 47.0, lower than last month's 47.9 reading.
Thanks to the stronger service sector, the United States S&P Global Composite PMI dipped from 54.6 previously but managed to beat the 54.3 estimate, printing at 54.4 in September.
Initial Jobless Claims in the U.S. for the week ending Sept. 14 came in at 219K, below the 230K forecast and down from 231K the previous week. Continuing Jobless Claims also decreased to 1.829M on September 6, compared to 1.85M previously. The four-week average of Initial Jobless Claims fell to 227.5K on September 13, down from 230.75 K.
The U.S. Current Account for Q2 printed at -$266.8B, higher than the -$259.0B estimates and worse than the previous -$241.0B.
The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index for September came in at 1.7, a significant improvement from -7.0 in August and better than the expected -0.8. Additionally, the Philly Fed September Employment Index rose to 10.7, following a 5.7 drop in August.
Existing Home Sales for August were reported at 3.86M, reflecting a 2.5% monthly decline.
Lastly, the U.S. Leading Index fell by 0.2%, a much better outcome than the 0.6% drop in August and the expected 0.3% decline.
According to the US Census Bureau's monthly report, following a 6.8% decline in July, US Housing Starts rose by 9.6% in August to 1.356 million units, surpassing the 1.31 million forecast.
During the same period, Building Permits increased by 4.9% after a 3.3% decline in July, reaching 1.475 million, above the 1.41 million expectations for August.
According to a report from the US Census Bureau on Tuesday, retail sales increased by 0.1% to $710.8 billion in August. This follows a 1.1% rise in July and surpassed market expectations, which anticipated a decline of 0.2%.
Retail Sales excluding Autos grew by 0.1%, missing analysts' forecast of a 0.2% increase.
Total sales for the June 2024 through August 2024 period were up 2.3% compared to the same period a year ago. Additionally, the June 2024 to July 2024 percent change was revised from a 1.0% increase to 1.1%.
According to the Federal Reserve (Fed) report, U.S. industrial production rose by 0.8% on a monthly basis in August, following a 0.6% decline in July. This increase exceeded market expectations, which were set at 0.2%. On an annual basis, production slightly increased by 0.04%, following a 0.74% decrease in July.
Additionally, Capacity Utilization improved to 78% annually in July, up from 77.8% during the same period last year.
The United States Producer Price Index (PPI) in August eased to 1.7% year-over-year (YoY), below the 1.8% expectations and down from 2.1% in July. On a monthly basis (MoM), the PPI increased by 0.2%, surpassing the 0.1% estimates. Additionally, the US Producer Price Index excluding Food and Energy (MoM) rose by 0.3%, above the expected 0.2% in August.
According to the US Department of Labor (DoL), the number of US citizens who newly applied for unemployment insurance benefits rose by 2,000 to 230,000 in the week ending September 7, compared to 228,000 the previous week. This figure was higher than the consensus estimate of 227,000 and also above the previous week’s revised number of 228,000 (revised up from 227,000).
Additionally, continuing claims rose by 5,000 to 1.850 million in the week ending August 31.
Moreover, detailed data shows that the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate remained at 1.2%, while the 4-week moving average increased by 0.5K to 230.75K, up from the previous week's revised average.