Economy in Brief: 2008

The Conference Board reported that consumer confidence in April fell 5.5% after a 13.7% m/m decline in March. That March decline was slightly less than indicated initially and the April drop about matched Consensus expectations. The [...]

The International Council of Shopping Centers reported, in its ICSC-UBS Chain Store survey, that sales recovered 0.9% last week after the prior period's 0.7% slip.

The retail price for a gallon of regular gasoline rose another ten cents last week to $3.60 per gallon, according to the U.S. Department of Energy survey.Prices have now risen 55 cents (18.0%) since the end of last year. Spot market [...]

The S&P/Case-Shiller Composite 20 home price index fell 2.7% m/m in February and that followed declines of similar magnitude during the prior three months. This index of U.S. home prices has fallen in each month since its peak in July [...]

Italy’s Business confidence index is in the bottom 30 percent of its range since 1999. Orders are in about the bottom 25th percentile of their range. Orders for consumer goods are in the bottom 15 percentile of their range. Investment [...]

The French service sector climate indicator is down sharply in the current month form 104 to 102 after being as high as 109 in January to start the year. Service sector sentiment has been steadily eroding. The climate indicator is in [...]

Brazil's has been recording a deficit on its current account for the last nine months after having recorded surpluses since 2002. In March the seasonally unadjusted deficit was $4,429 million US$, the largest in the last ten years, as [...]

Brazil's has been recording a deficit on its current account for the last nine months after having recorded surpluses since 2002. In March the seasonally unadjusted deficit was $4,429 million US$, the largest in the last ten years, as [...]