Several economic reports are due out today.
The first one out should be the monthly update on British retail spending. So far, despite warnings of possible negative repercussions if the UK quits the EU, so far there hasn’t been any sign of a Brexit fallout in the labor market data for April. Rather, the unemployment rate is seen to have held steady at 5.1 percent with a drop in new filings for jobless benefits and wage growth picking up.
Today’s April review for retail spending should show a 0.6 per cent rebound in month-to-month sales, an significant improvement over the 1.3 per cent slide the month before. Britain’s retail industry has not been doing so well, however, with British retails sales down by the most in four years in April.
US Jobless Claims
Although jobless claims have increased considerably over the last few months, soaring by 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 294,000 in the first week of May and the highest in a year, today’s U.S. Jobless Claims report may be surprising, with some analysts forecasting a sharp drop in claims to 275,000 in the second week of May. Some analysts are attributing the inflated numbers to the strike by Verizon workers in New York.
Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index
Economists are looking for some good news with the release of the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index. This report shows the manufacturing numbers for the Philadelphia Fed region is an important gauge of general business conditions in the country. This index is published by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank on the third Thursday of the month at 10 am EST and covers the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware region.
This Philly report follows closely on New York Fed Index numbers released on Monday which showed weak manufacturing numbers in the Empire State which came in at a three-month low. Analysts are forecasting that the Philly Fed data will show the regional benchmark rebounding into positive territory in May after sliding just below zero in the previous month.