Satyam Panday, chief U.S. and Canada economist, S&P Global Ratings, offered his latest Economic Data Highlights. He said:
“The U.S. economy continues to remain on a solid footing. Consumer spending remains strong on the back of employment and wage gains. The fear of more-than-warranted labor market loosening receded with the September rebound in payroll growth and upward revisions to earlier months. The economy ended up adding an average of 186,000 jobs in the third quarter–close to 40,000 more jobs compared to the second quarter, and in line with the pre-pandemic average.
“That said, the housing market continues to experience a mix of trends. Existing home sales fell 1.0% month over month to 3.84 million annualized units to a 14-year low in September. New home sales, on the other hand, picked up. Inventory has also increased. The mortgage rate, which was falling earlier this year, reversed course and rose again last month by close to 50 basis points (bps) to 6.54% as of October 24 (after falling to 6.09% on September 19).
‘Manufacturing sentiments are still weak, but there were signs of improvement in October, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence’s flash manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI). Services PMI continues to exhibit strength. The University of Michigan’s final consumer sentiment reading for October was revised up and higher than in September; perhaps indicating the jumbo rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September lifted consumer optimism on current economic conditions,” he concluded.