-- Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported 83,387 layoff intentions in April, up from 60,620 in March, but down from 105,441 a year ago.
The largest layoff count in April was in the technology sector, which accounted for 33,361 of those intentions, with increased use of artificial intelligence with the most cited reason for layoffs.
The New York Fed's inflation expectations survey for April showed an increase in inflation expectations and uncertainty for the next year.
Nonfarm productivity rose by 0.8% in Q1 after a 1.6% gain in Q4, reflecting slower output growth and a rebound in hours worked. Released at the same time, unit labor costs rose by 2.3% after a 4.6% gain, with the slower pace of productivity growth only partially offsetting a much slower pace of compensation growth.
Construction spending rose by 0.6% in March after a 0.2% decline in February. Private residential construction rose by 1.7%, with single-family construction up 2.7%, multi-family construction up 0.3% and remodeling activity up 0.9%.
Private nonresidential building fell by 0.2% and public construction declined by 0.2%.
Consumer credit usage jumped by $24.8 billion in March after an $8.9 billion gain in February, with revolving credit use and nonrevolving credit use both rising at a faster rate than in the previous month.
Initial jobless claims increased by 10,000 to 200,000 in the week ended May 2, but the four-week moving average fell by 4,500 to 203,250, a second straight decrease.
Insured claims declined by 10,000 to 1.766 million in the week ended April 25.
Natural gas stocks rose by 63 billion cubic feet to 2.205 trillion cubic feet in the week ended May 1, up 3.5% from a year earlier and 6.7% higher than the seasonal average for the current week over the previous five years.
The Q2 GDP nowcast estimate from the Atlanta Fed is for a 3.7% gain, unrevised from the previous estimate.