Economy in Brief

Germany leads the surplus 'parade of shame' Germany, the largest EMU economy, has run nothing but current account surpluses since July 2001 with only two monthly exceptions. That is 183 months of surplus vs. only two months of deficit [...]

The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators increased 0.6% during January (2.5% y/y) following an unrevised 0.5% December gain. Earlier figures were revised slightly higher. A 0.4% increase had been expected [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance increased to 239,000 (-8.1% y/y) during the week ended February 11 from unrevised claims of 234,000 in the prior week. The four-week moving average of claims rose to 245,250, still near the [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index jumped to 43.3 during February from January's 23.6. It was the highest level since January 1984. The latest monthly reading compared [...]

European car registration rose 4.1% in January, building on a small gain registered in December. Registrations as well as the three-month moving average of registrations are showing strong, accelerating gains from 12-month to six- [...]

Housing starts during January declined 2.6% to 1.246 million (AR) from 1.279 million in December, revised from 1.226 million. Expectations had been for 1.215 million starts in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Starts of single- [...]

A surplus bigger than a bread box...bigger than the bread factory The EMU trade surplus swung to an even wider surplus in December, its widest in eight month and the second widest on record. Exports and import are swinging up as both [...]

Business sales jumped 2.0% m/m (5.2% y/y) in December. This was the largest monthly increase since March 2011 and the largest yearly increase since May 2012. All three major categories (retail, wholesale and manufacturing) posted [...]