Housing & Economy

Consumer Economics

Potential US existing-home sales in February fell 2.8% month-over-month to 6.17 million seasonally adjusted annualized rate, with market outperforming potential by 13.8%; house-buying power down 3.6%, driven by higher mortgage rates: First American
First American Financial Corp. (03/18)

Euro area annual inflation rate was 5.9% in February, up from 5.1% in January and 0.9% a year ago; highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate in February came from energy, up 3.12 percentage points: Eurostat
Eurostat (03/17)

Household Income/Expenditures

Zillow study finds home value appreciation in 2021 was higher than median incomes in 25 of 28 metro areas surveyed, up more than US$100,000 in 11 of them; costal markets in California, Hawaii saw home value growth outpace median incomes by largest amounts
Zillow Group Inc. (03/18)

Employee Compensation & Benefits

Canadian Pacific receives a formal notice of a strike beginning March 20 from union representing its employees over disagreements regarding wages, benefits and pensions; Retail Council of Canada, Canadian Chamber of Commerce have spoken out against strike
Baystreet US News Alerts (03/18)

US employer costs for employee compensation for civilian workers averaged US$40.35 per hour worked in December; wages and salaries cost employers US$27.83 while benefit costs were US$12.52: BLS
U.S. Dept. of Labor (DOL) (03/18)

Employee Well-Being/Satisfaction

Michelin suspends tire production at Davydovo, Russia, plant along with exports to the country, with company to support facility’s 750 employees; plant makes car tires, retreaded truck tires with annual capacity of 1.5 million-to-2 million tires
Interfax Russia & CIS Energy Newswire (03/18)

Kao advances its health management initiative and revises its Group Health Declaration, part of its ESG strategy, Kirei Lifestyle Plan; goals include improving products and healthcare solutions for consumers, supporting health of employees and communities
Kao Corp. (03/18)

Labor Scarcity/Skills Shortage

California faces wildfire season with fewer firefighters, risking repeat of 2021's big fires, when engines sat idle for want of staff; from 2019 to 2021, US Forest Service saw 20% decline in firefighter ranks in state, a loss of more than 1,000 employees
San Francisco Chronicle (03/18)

Ocado's 50/50 online grocery joint venture with Marks and Spencer sees 15% fall in basket sizes to US$163 despite active customer numbers up 31% to 835,000; JV says it will cut costs across business amid difficulties such as labor shortages, competition
Investing.com (03/17)

Energy Indicators

US commercial crude oil inventories in week ended Mar. 11 increased by 4.3 million barrels from the previous week to 415.9 million barrels; inventories are about 12% below the five year average for this time of year: EIA
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) (03/16)

Employment Statistics & Trends

US unemployment rates were lower in January than a year earlier in 388 of the 389 metro areas and higher in one area; nonfarm payroll employment increased over the year in 154 metro areas and was essentially unchanged in 235 areas: Dept. of Labor
U.S. Dept. of Labor (DOL) (03/18)

Euro area annual growth in labor costs at 1.9% in Q4, down from 2.3% in Q3; costs of wages and salaries per hour worked grew by 1.5%, while non-wage component rose by 3.4%: Eurostat
Eurostat (03/18)

Interest Rates

Russia maintains its key interest rate at 20% following an increase from 9.5% last month; central bank to start buying OFZ government bonds, warns of imminent rise in inflation, economic contraction
Reuters (03/18)

Bank of England raised key interest rate to 0.75% from 0.5%, the third increase since December; the UK is pushing ahead faster than other central banks in combating global inflation fueled by high energy prices
Associated Press (03/17)

Retail Metrics

Canada's retail sales up 3.2% to C$58.9B in January, led by higher sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers, up 2.9% in volume terms; retail e-commerce sales down 14.4% year-over-year to C$3.2B, accounting for 6.3% of total retail trade: Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (03/18)

Advance estimates of US retail and food services sales for February were US$658.1B, up 0.3% from January and up 17.6% from February 2021; retail trade sales virtually flat from January but up 15.9% over last year: Dept. of Commerce
U.S. Dept. of Commerce (DOC) (03/16)

Inflation

Canadian food prices rise 7.4% year-over-year in February as annual inflation rate climbs to 5.7%, the highest level since 1991, Statistics Canada says
Fresh Plaza (03/18)

Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point as concerns about high inflation, war grow; central bank projected the equivalent of quarter-percentage point rate hikes at each of the remaining six policy meetings in 2022
Reuters (03/16)

Housing Starts

Privately‐owned US housing starts in February at seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,769,000, up 6.8% from revised January level, up 22.3% annually; building permits up 7.7% annually to 1,859,000, completions down 2.8% to 1,309,000: Dept. of Commerce
U.S. Dept. of Commerce (DOC) (03/17)

US single-family starts increased 5.7% to a 1.22 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in February, multifamily production increased 9.3% to a 554,000 pace; availability of materials, lumber, labor, lots remain key headwinds: NAHB
National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) (03/17)

Housing Affordability

US single-family rent prices in January up 12.6% year-over-year, up from 3.9% in January 2021 as shortage of available rental properties continues; cost of purchasing a home increased 19% annually, shutting out many buyer, forcing them to rent: CoreLogic
CoreLogic Inc. (03/16)

Home Ownership

Share of Hispanic American home shoppers looking to buy their first home reaches 58%, significantly higher than the 34% of the population at large; Latinos are predicted to account for 70% of new homeowners over the next 20 years: Realtor.com
Realtor.com (03/16)

Mortgages/Home Financing

US 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.16% in week ended Mar. 17, up from 3.85% last week; 30-year FRM averaged 3.09% a year ago: Freddie Mac
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (Freddie Mac) (03/17)

Mortgage applications for new US home purchases in February decreased 1% month-over-month, down 3.9% year-over-year; average loan size increased to US$432,359 in February from US$426,954 in January: Mortgage Bankers Assn.
Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) (03/17)

New Homes

New home prices in Canada grew 1.1% in February, with increases in 18 of 27 metro areas surveyed, unchanged in 9; new home prices were up 10.9% year-over-year in February, as increases in construction costs for material, labor continue: Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (03/18)

PulteGroup's Del Webb breaks ground on its first community, Del Webb Southern Harmony, a 55+ luxury development in Murfreesboro, Tennessee; the active-adult community is scheduled to open in late 2023, and will contain 1,100 single-family homes
PulteGroup Inc. (03/17)

Residential Construction & Real Estate

Canada's real estate lessors and real estate property managers generated C$120.5B in operating revenue in 2020, up 1% from 2019; gain led by modest population increase, e-commerce demand for logistics centers in the industrial sector: Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (03/18)

Share of Redfin home offers that faced bidding wars rose to 68.6% in February from January's revised 68%; homes listed in the range of US$1M to US$1.5M were likely to face the most competition, with a bidding-war rate of 76.6%
Redfin Corp. (03/18)

Corporate Management

Rayonier Advanced Materials shareholder Chatham Asset Management writes to independent members of company's board over concerns management is not being proactive enough to address upcoming debt maturities; Chatham suggests note exchange, buyback
Business Wire (03/18)

America’s Car-Mart names Brian Stone executive VP of Procurement and Inventory, where he will oversee data analysis, reconditioning, inventory management, and leverage industry partnerships; Stone is a former vice president at CarMax
America's Car Mart (03/17)

Corporate Financing

Veritiv agrees to sell its Veritiv Canada business to Imperial Dade; company expects to use transaction's net proceeds to support its recently announced US$200M share repurchase program, future capital priorities and growth initiatives
PR Newswire (03/18)

Devonian announces shareholder approval of a new restricted share unit plan; aggregate number of subordinate voting shares issued shall not exceed 10% of the issued and outstanding shares, and plan remains subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval
Business Wire (03/18)

Small Businesses

Diamond Packaging named Best Performer The Americas in the EcoVadis Sustainability Leadership Awards 2022 dedicated to SMEs; EcoVadis rating methodology covers four themes--environment, labor and human rights, ethics, sustainable procurement
Diamond Packaging Holdings LLC (03/16)

Trade Agreement/Deal

DHL signs agreement with free trade zone association Zofri to reduce Chilean air cargo transfer rates by 50%, which association says will likely help lower product prices; DHL has been operating in Chile as of September 2021 as part of its expansion plan
CE Noticias Financieras (03/18)

Trade Balance

Euro area international trade in goods declines to a deficit of €27.2B in January compared with a surplus of €10.7B in January 2021; exports of goods up 18.9% year-over-year to €199.5B, imports gain 44.3% to €226.7B: Eurostat
Eurostat (03/18)

Thousands   |   Latest: Feb/22

Total, Seasonally Adjusted   |   Latest: 03/12/22

Total, Not Seasonally Adjusted   |   Latest: 03/12/22

Total, Seasonally Adjusted   |   Latest: 03/12/22

%   |   Latest: Feb/22

%   |   Latest: Feb/22

%   |   Latest: 03/17/22

Real/US$   |   Latest: 03/18/22

Index 1985=100   |   Latest: Feb/22

Leading Indicators

Interactive Chart: Click on legend/key to see full view on your dashboard

Interactive Chart: Click on legend/key to see full view on your dashboard

Sources: Industry Intelligence Inc.,Census Bureau