Economy in Brief

The German PPI was flat in August. The PPI excluding energy was also flat. The CPI was flat in August. The CPI excluding energy was up by 0.1%. Is there a pattern here? Flat, flat, flat, and up by 0.1%. These are very moderate [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported that its September Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Activity at the company level declined to 16.7, the lowest level since July 2015. It remained down sharply versus 53.9 in February [...]

Housing starts fell 5.8% during August (+0.9% y/y) to 1.142 million following a 1.4% July increase to 1.212 million, revised from 1.211 million. It was the lowest level of starts in three months. Expectations were for 1.19 million [...]

Total borrowing in the U.S. was $2,443 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in Q2, down from $2,966 billion in Q1, according to the Financial Accounts of the U.S., released Friday by the Federal Reserve Board. The Q2 amount [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo jumped 10.2% during September to 65 (6.7% y/y) following modest improvement to 59 in August, revised from 60. The latest reading matched the [...]

Italy's trade and current account surpluses are shrinking in July. The shrink is based on a drop in exports on the month that is larger than the drop in imports, a sort of economic race to the bottom. A smaller surplus will subtract [...]

The U.S. current account deficit eased to $119.9 billion in the second quarter from $131.8 billion Q1'16, revised from -$124.7 billion. The Q2 deficit figure compared to $121.9 billion expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]

Consumer price inflation rose during August. The consumer price index increased 0.2% (1.1% y/y) following little change in July. A 0.1% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Prices excluding food & energy [...]