Economics Update

The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index fell from 60.4 in April to 59.7 in May. Note that this is still expansion, but it is a slower rate of growth.

Seeing as how the 2^nd derivative is a pretty twitchy number anyway, I'd wait for the June numbers, and perhaps July, to see if there is a trend.

Meanwhile, construction rose by 2.7% from March to April, the largest one month jump in almost 10 years.

Additionally, serious mortgage delinquencies fell marginally, but since this is the first time that they have fallen since the real estate bubble started to pop in 2007.

Meanwhile, in the department of, "If you listen to the Germans when you set up a currency, you will get screwed," unemployment in the Euro zone rose to 10.1% in April. (PDF)