Economy in Brief: 2018

Retail gasoline prices increased to $2.64 per gallon (15.0% y/y) last week from $2.61 per gallon. They remained at the highest level since mid-September. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in [...]

German orders are hopped up on foreign demand. In December foreign orders surged, rising by 5.9%, as domestic orders waddled ahead by 0.7%. Still, both foreign and domestic orders are accelerating from 12-month to six-month to three- [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate in December notched down to 3.8% from 3.9% in November. At the end of 2016 the job openings rate was 3.7%. The hiring rate was unchanged at 3.7%, slightly higher [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services increased to $53.1 billion in December from $50.4 billion in November, revised from $50.5 billion. A $52.0 billion deficit had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Exports [...]

The PMI readings are one of the biggest reasons for optimism on global growth. A look down the column on the far right of the table (below) shows how high the individual Markit PMI readings rank among their own data back to January [...]

The Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Activity from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) strengthened to 59.9 during January from 56.0 in December, revised up from the initially reported 55.9. It was the highest level [...]

The labor market remains firm. Nonfarm payrolls increased 200,000 (1.5% y/y) during January following a 160,000 December gain and a 216,000 November rise. Together these two figures were revised down by 24,000. A 184,000 increase in [...]

The PPI data now finalized and we can look at trends in a series of European countries as well as the sector trends in the EMU. The PPI rose by 0.3% in the EMU in December after a 0.6% advance in November. Inflation is gaining [...]