The total number of operating rigs in the US the week ending May 5^th was 877, 703 oil and 173 gas. On a month on month (m/m) basis oil rig count is was up 4.6%, gas was up 4.8%.

The total number of seasonally adjusted (SA), non-farm people employed in the US in April 2017 was 146,063,000. This figure increased by 253,000 jobs on a three month moving average (3MMA) and by 2,330,000 year on year.

New seasonally adjusted (SA), filings for unemployment insurance benefits fell 19,000 to 238,000 for the week ending April 29^th, while the four week moving average (4WMA), was 243,000, up 0.3% week on week.

New orders for durable goods (DG), gained 0.7% in March, its third month in a row of advances. On a three month moving average (3MMA), assessment, DG were up 1.8% month on month and up 2.0% year on year.

Housing inventory of existing homes was 3.8 months’ supply in March. It has been below four months for five months in a row. This is an extremely low number. To put this into perspective, in the 60 months between 2009 and 2014 months’ supply averaged 15.2.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Composite index fell back 4.6 points in April to 120.3 points. Despite the decline the index remains at an elevated level.  On a three month moving average (3MMA) basis, the confidence index scored 120.4, its highest level since January 2001.