ECONOMICS

Authored by Susan Crabtree via RealClear Wire,

More than two years after the Biden administration called on all federal agencies to create plans to bring employees who teleworked during the COVID pandemic back to the office, the vast majority of Washington, D.C.’s federal buildings are still sprawling expanses of empty, echoing hallways and offices. 

In fact, 17 of 24 federal agencies use an estimated 25% or less of their headquarters’ office capacity, according to an (more…)

Following weakness in the Manufacturing survey data, Services surveys were expected rebound in November, despite the plunge in 'hard' data seen in November.

S&P Global's Services PMI ticked up in November to 50.8 from 50.6 in October (flat from the flash print)

ISM's Services PMI beat expectations, rising from 51.8 to 52.7 (vs 52.3 exp) in November.

Source: Bloomberg

Under the hood, Employment rose less than expected; New Orders were (more…)

The chaotic time series of US Factory Orders was expected to swing to a big loss (-3.00% MoM) in October (data released today) after a big jump in September and big drop in July (and a big jump in June!).

However, factory orders tumbled even more than expected, down 3.6% MoM – the biggest drop since the COVID lockdowns (April 2020). September was also revised lower (making October's decline even worse) from +2.8% MoM to +2.3% MoM…

Source: Bloomberg

The big monthly (more…)