Wall Street stocks sank on Thursday morning, reversing gains from the previous session as markets reassessed the Federal Reserve’s moves to tighten monetary policy in response to inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.4%, the broad-based S&P 500 fell 3%, while the tech-rich Nasdaq fell 4.1%. These moves come after a major rally...Read More

Nothing has emphasized more the fragility of the global economy more than the pandemic. And while inflation has been the top subject in many of the reporting, we need to pay attention to the fact that the US relies heavily on the manufacturing in China for their goods in the US and many portions of...Read More

Puerto Rico’s General Fund net revenue was reported as a total of $906 million for the month of February 2022. Compared to February 2021, this was a $191 million increase, or 26.8%. Compared to the central government’s fiscal plan projections, this was 20% higher. Source: Puerto Rico Treasury Department General Fund net revenue for the...Read More

Cement production reached a total of 765 thousand 94lb sacks for the month of March 2022, while sales totaled 1,472 thousand 94lb sacks. Compared to the previous month of February, production increased by 144, or 23.2%. Compared to March 2021, production decreased by 0.7%. Source: Economic Development Bank of Puerto Rico Cement sales increased by...Read More

There were 883 total housing units sold in Puerto Rico during the month of February 2022. Compared to February 2021, sales were down by 263 units, or 22.9%. Compared to January 2022, sales decreased by 153 units, or 14.8%. Out of these sales, 73 were new housing units and the rest, 810, were used housing...Read More

Non-farm payroll in Puerto Rico for the month of March 2022 reached a total of 908,200 workers. Compared to the previous month of February, this total went up by 2,000, or 0.2%. Compared to March 2021, there was an increase of 47,200, or 5.5%. Compared to March 2020, before the first COVID lockdown took place,...Read More

According to the latest data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation in March reached 8.5%.  This means that on average goods and services were 8.5% more expensive on March 2022 than on March 2021.  To put it plainly, $1 in March 2022 dollars will buy you the same amount of goods that...Read More

The economic activity index is an economic model calculated monthly by the Economic Development Bank of Puerto Rico. It uses four important macroeconomic indicators to create a model that closely estimates the island’s GDP. An increase of a decrease in this index is highly indicative of a change in the island’s economic output. The index...Read More

The Purchasing Manager’s Index for Puerto Rico for the month of February was recently released. This index is based on a survey of manufacturing facilities manager’s and is used as a main indicator for the current state of manufacturing on the island. A score above 50 in a category indicates positive performance. The PMI for...Read More

Bankruptcy filings in March 2022 totaled 414, 14 or 3.5% more than in March 2021.  When compared to February 2022 total bankruptcy filings increased by 119 or 40.3%. It’s worth noting that March 2020 reported the highest amount of bankruptcy filings since December 2020 when filings peaked at 453. Out of the 414 bankruptcies reported...Read More