NAM: Signs Of Economic Recovery Encouraging BY CHAD MOUTRAY, PH.D.
for new orders, production, exports and employment. In a similar way, the IHS Markit Flash Eurozone Manu- facturing PMI rebounded in May after dropping in April at the quickest rate since February 2009. Mirroring the New York Federal Reserve release, manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia Fed’s survey continued to reflect deteriorating conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic even as the headline index bounced back in April from its worst reading since July 1980. En- couragingly, respondents were cautiously optimistic about a strong rebound over the next six months. There were 2,438,000 initial unemployment claims for the week ending May 16, down from the 2,687,000 claims added for the week ending May 9. Since peaking at 6,867,000 for the week ending March 28, initial claims have decelerated, which is encouraging. However, these levels continue to be heartbreaking and unprecedented. Over the past seven weeks, 38,636,000 Americans filed for unemployment insurance.
While the economic data continue to reflect ongoing, sharp disruptions in demand and operations for man-
ufacturers, there were also signs that the worst of those decreases occurred in late March and in April, with the rate of declines in May im- proving somewhat. After declining in April at the fast- est rates since March 2009, the IHS Markit Flash U.S. Manufacturing PMI
Chad Moutray
continued to contract sharply in May, albeit at a somewhat slower rate of decline. The headline index rose from 36.1 in April to 39.8 in May, with some easing in the contractions
The housing market had historic declines in activity in April, but builders were some- what less pessimistic in their outlook for the coming months. Low mortgage rates should help boost demand once stay-at-home or- ders are lifted and economic activity can start to resume, even in a more limited way. New residential construction fell 30.2 percent in April, extending the 18.6 percent slide seen in March, as the housing market slowed materially in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. Housing starts have declined from an annualized 1,567,000 units in February to 1,276,000 units in March to 891,000 in April, the slowest pace since January 2014. New single-family housing starts have decreased from 1,034,000 units in February to 871,000 units in March to 650,000 units in April. This 37.1 percent reduction over that span rep- resents a pace not seen since March 2015. After declining in April at the fastest rates since March 2009, manufacturing activity in the United States continued to contract sharply in May, albeit at a somewhat slower rate of decline. The headline index rose from 36.1 in April to 39.8 in May, with some easing in the contractions for new orders, produc- tion, exports and employment. The index for future output pulled back from 47.8 to 45.2, suggesting that manufacturing business leaders expect further reduction in produc- tion over the next six months. At the same time, the IHS Markit Flash U.S. Services Business Activity Index hit a record low in April, with consumer-facing businesses closed and Americans staying closer to home. It bounced back in the latest survey, up from 26.7 in April to 36.9 in May.
Fibre Box Association (FBA) has unveiled a new look and feel for its promotion program. The program update rolls out a new industry tagline, “Boxes. The Most Extraordinary Ordinary Thing in the World.” Look for the new tagline materials in business-to-business trade media advertising, a brand video, a new website landing page, updates to the exisiting corrugated.org website and in messaging across FBA’s social media channels.
Learn more at www.boxesareextraordinary.com.
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June 1, 2020
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