JOLTS Data Exceeds Estimates, Factory Orders Decline

JOLTS Report Analysis

• 💡 The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for April reported 7,391,000 job openings, surpassing the 7.1 million estimates.
• 📈 This figure is an improvement from the revised 7.2 million in the previous month and represents the best number since February.

Factory Orders and Durable Goods

• 📉 Factory orders saw a decline of 3.2%, which was better than the expected -3.7% but marked the weakest performance since January of last year.
• ⚠️ Excluding transportation, factory orders were down 0.5%, the weakest reading since May of the previous year.
• 📊 Final reads for durable goods remained at -6.3%, indicating the weakest trend since January of last year.

Capital Spending Indicators

• 🚀 Capital goods orders, non-defense, a proxy for capital spending, deteriorated by 0.2%, reaching their weakest point since February 2023.
• 📈 However, durable goods excluding transportation showed a dramatic improvement, up 0.2%, the best performance since February of the current year.

Market Reaction

• 📊 Following the economic data releases, the 2-year Treasury yield oscillated but ultimately closed down two basis points.
• 📉 The 10-year Treasury yield fell by half a dozen basis points, trading at 4.41%, contributing to a steepening of the yield curve.