Latest News

Durable goods orders are forecast to have dropped 17% in April while initial unemployment claims for the week ending May 23rd are projected at 1.95 million. The level of unemployment claims remains hard to fathom. Back in mid-March, the expectation from a number of economic forecasters was that weekly claims would peak above 3.3 million...

In the commodity markets, crude oil and base metal prices were trading higher this morning with Bloomberg reporting “Oil rose above $34 a barrel following a prediction from Russia that the market may rebalance as early as next month due to historic output cuts from global producers. Russia, a key member of the OPEC+ alliance...

Their positions expressed Tuesday reflected differing views on the prospects for a swift economic rebound from the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Mnuchin, appearing alongside Mr. Powell at an online congressional hearing, reflected the Trump administration’s belief that the biggest danger to the economy is waiting too long to restart activity after two months in which millions...

Due to the ongoing difficulties presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, many of this month’s figures are estimates that may be revised with next month’s production update… China produced 85.0 Mt of crude steel in April 2020, an increase of 0.2% compared to April 2019. India produced 3.1 Mt of crude steel production in April 2020,...

Total carloads for the week ending May 16 were 184,415 carloads, down 30.2 percent compared with the same week in 2019, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 231,700 containers and trailers, down 14 percent compared to 2019… The 30.2% decline in total U.S. carloads last week was the biggest year-over-year weekly decline for total carloads...