Economy in Brief

Consumers grew cautious ahead of the holiday spending season. Total retail sales & spending at restaurants nudged 0.1% higher (3.8% y/y) during November following a 0.6% October rise, revised from 0.8%. A 0.4% increase had been [...]

The headline Final Demand Producer Price Index jumped 0.4% m/m (1.3% y/y) in November after having been unchanged in October. The Action Economics Forecast Survey had looked for a 0.1% m/m rise. This was the highest y/y rate of [...]

The main take away from the Zew report in December The main take away from the Zew report in December is that globally conditions are in flux. Brexit is an issue, Zew experts see Italy deteriorating. The US is expected to perform [...]

WTI crude oil prices jumped to $50.96 per barrel (38.0% y/y) last week, the highest level since July of last year. Yesterday, prices strengthened further to $52.83 per barrel. Brent crude oil prices increased to $53.92 per barrel last [...]

Import prices slipped 0.3% during November (-0.1% y/y) following a 0.4% October increase, revised from 0.5%. A 0.4% decline had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. These figures are not seasonally adjusted. A 4.7% [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index jumped 3.7% during November (4.1% y/y) to 98.4. It was the strongest level of optimism since December 2014. A strengthened 12% of firms [...]

Japanese trends remain listless whatever their angle New readings today for Japanese orders and core orders as well as for its tertiary index (services) leave key trends in the doldrums. All of the surveys have different ways of [...]

The U.S. Treasury Department reported that during November, the federal government ran a budget deficit of $136.7 billion. A $125.0 billion deficit had expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. So far in FY'17, the federal [...]