Analysts at Nomura offered their review of the latest key US data from overnight.
Key Quotes:
“Initial jobless claims: Initial jobless claims declined 1k to 222k in the week ending 2 June, another solid reading. The four-week moving average increased marginally to 226k. Continuing claims increased 21k to 1741k in the week ending 26 May but remain quite low by historical standards. Continuing claims overall have declined 136k over the past three months, a substantial drop, as the unemployment rate has also recently fallen 0.3pp to a low 3.8%.”
“Consumer credit: Consumer credit increased by a moderate $9.3bn in April, or roughly 3% m-o-m, the smallest monthly gain since September 2017. Revolving credit growth picked up but nonrevolving credit decelerated somewhat, increasing only $7bn after a $13.3bn gain in March. Despite the modest slowdown in the growth of consumer credit in April, we expect consumer fundamentals including a low unemployment rate and steady income growth to help bolster consumer spending activity, which has picked up recently.”
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