Recent Updates
- US: Monthly Treasury Statement, Wholesale Trade (Jun), Consumer Prices (Jul)
- Brazil: Retail Trade (Jul)
- North Macedonia: Central Bank Bills (Jul)
- Albania: Banking system liabilities (Q2)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Mortgage Applications Rose Slightly in the Latest Week
Mortgage applications increased 0.2% (-62.9% y/y) from one week earlier...
U.S. Productivity Declines in Q2, Pushing Unit Labor Costs Higher
Nonfarm business sector productivity fell 4.6% (AR) during Q2'22...
U.S. Small Business Optimism Edged Up in July
The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index edged up to 89.9 in July...
U.S. Gasoline & Crude Oil Prices Continue Weakening
Retail gasoline prices declined to $4.04 per gallon (+27.3% y/y) last week...
OECD LEIs Point to a Ramp Down in Growth - and Nothing More
The OECD metrics this month show a broad tendency for growth to slow down...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Robert Brusca October 17, 2007
Japans economic signals took a turn for the better in August as the sector indexes for manufacturing and mining as well as for the services sector (the tertiary index) advanced strongly in August. Each of these sectors show the highest readings in their respective ranges since February 1993. The manufacturing and mining index is on a strong surge. The tertiary index is slower but steadily gaining trend.These readings come as the IMF in its twice-yearly World Economic Outlook (WEO) warned the BOJ not to hike rates too soon. Japans recent economic readings have been erratic. Its price trends have not completely set the event of deflation behind it. So while these sector readings are good news they do not yet make the needed clear case for solid growth in Japan.
Recent Months | Moving Averages | Extremes; Range | |||||||
Aug-2007 | Jul-2007 | Jun-2007 | 3-Mo | 6-Mo | 12-Mo | Max | Min | %-Tile | |
Mining and MFG | 111.9 | 108.1 | 108.5 | 109.5 | 108.4 | 108.2 | 111.9 | 87.7 | 100.0% |
Tertiary | 111.3 | 109.9 | 110.3 | 110.5 | 110.1 | 109.7 | 111.3 | 91.0 | 100.0% |
Ranges, Max, Min since 1993 |