Economy in Brief

Total sales of light vehicles during September increased 4.5% (-1.6% y/y) to 17.76 million units (SAAR), and reversed most of August's decline. Auto sales increased 6.9% to 7.24 million units (-8.3% y/y) following a 4.5% drop. The [...]

The value of construction put-in-place fell 0.7% (-0.3% y/y) during August following a 0.3% July dip, revised from little change. The value of construction spending has been moving sideways since the middle of last year, following [...]

Factory sector activity perked up last month. The ISM Composite Index of manufacturing activity improved to 51.5 during September from an unrevised 49.4 in August. The figure compared to 50.2 expected in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

While the global manufacturing PMI data are still disappointing in September, they are for the most part better than they have been. The unweighted average of values in the table show the actual reading is above its six-month average [...]

Fresh unemployment and inflation data are out for the EMU area. Inflation is starting to creep up as the impact of stable then rising oil prices is taking a toll. But the unemployment rate has been stuck for both the EU and the EMU [...]

The Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer Index increased to 54.2 during September following an unrevised fall during August to 51.5. The figure compared to expectations for 51.9 in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Haver [...]

Personal consumption expenditures were flat during August (3.8% y/y) following a 0.4% July advance, revised from 0.3%. A 0.1% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. So far this year, spending has risen at a [...]

The plotted EU indices show some stabilization and pick up in the most recent data. The overall EU index bumped up to 105.6 in September from 103.8 in August. The August reading is the weakest since December 2014- quite a stretch. But [...]