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- US: Kansas City Fed Mfg Survey (May)
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Economy in Brief
Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index Dips in May But Remains Strong
The Kansas City Fed reported that its manufacturing sector business activity index declined to 23 in May...
U.S. Pending Home Sales Decline Sharply in April
Home buying remains under pressure...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Eased Slightly in the Latest Week
Initial claims for unemployment insurance filed in the week ended May 21 were 210,000 (-52.4% y/y)...
U.S. Durable Goods Orders Increase Modestly in April
Manufacturers' new orders for durable goods increased 0.4% during April (12.2% y/y)...
U.S. Mortgage Applications Continue to Weaken
The MBA Loan Applications Index fell 1.2% (-54.5% y/y) in the week ended May 20...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
State Coincident Indexes in April 2022
State Labor Markets in April 2022
Profits & Margins Plunge In Q1: Expect More Margin Contraction As Fed Squeezes Inflation
The Many Links of Inflation Cycle: Hard Landing Is Needed to Crack Them
Peak Inflation and Fed Policy: A Relationship which Should Worry the Fed and Scare Investors
by Robert Brusca September 11, 2012
The UK trade balance improved moving to a smaller deficit position in July as exports rebounded strongly from a very weak June, gaining back what they had lost. But imports fell, building on losses over the last four months.
Year-over-year trends show that exports are now losing momentum faster than imports. Imports appear to have stabilized to some extent on their yr/yr comparison.
Exports were helped in June by a surge of petroleum exports to Europe. The deficit in goods trade with the European Union (about 49% of British exports) narrowed to 4.27 billion pounds in July from 4.99 billion pounds in June. The trade gap with non-EU nations also fell to 2.88 billion pounds from 5.08 billion pounds, as exports to those countries rose to a record. However, sterling has begun to strengthen and that casts a shadow over the ability of UK exports to maintain this momentum.
UK economic data have been mercurial recently with some housing data showing price increases and the recent MFG and services PMI surveys showing a move higher. But the BOE still seems very worried about the economy. Money supply continues to contract.
The trade figures show a withering export trend and steady weakens in imports. The ongoing import weakness is a signal for poor domestic demand prospects.
UK Trade trends for goods | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
M/M% | % SAAR | |||||
Jul-12 | Jun-12 | 3M | 6M | 12M | ||
Balance* | -€ 7.15 | -€ 10.07 | -€ 8.39 | -€ 8.78 | -€ 8.69 | |
Exports of Goods | ||||||
All Exp | 9.3% | -9.0% | 32.8% | 1.2% | 2.2% | |
Capital gds | 4.4% | -4.4% | 9.6% | -2.2% | -0.8% | |
Road Vehicles | 6.6% | -10.6% | 77.5% | -21.3% | 5.0% | |
Basic Materials | 6.7% | -2.0% | 6.1% | -32.1% | -11.6% | |
Food,Bev and Tbco | 6.3% | -3.1% | 28.8% | 1.7% | 1.2% | |
Other Exports | 11.1% | -10.3% | 34.0% | 7.6% | 3.1% | |
Imports of Goods | ||||||
All IMP | -2.1% | -0.6% | -12.7% | -3.9% | -3.3% | |
Capital gds | -0.2% | 2.8% | -2.9% | -2.4% | -2.3% | |
Road Vehicles | 3.0% | 0.5% | 20.6% | 1.7% | 3.9% | |
Basic Materials | 0.1% | -2.9% | -12.5% | -26.0% | -16.7% | |
Food, Bev and Tbco | 4.6% | -0.1% | 20.6% | 11.5% | 1.9% | |
Other Imports | -4.1% | -1.3% | -21.6% | -5.8% | -4.6% | |
*Stg Blns; mo or period average. All data are seasonally adjusted. |