Economy in Brief: January 2014

The Composite Index for the service and construction sectors from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) fell during December to 53.0 after a sharp November decline to 53.9. The latest fell short of consensus expectations for [...]

Stronger employment and income powered unit motor vehicle sales during all of last year to 15.55 million units. It was the highest level since 2007 and up 7.3% from 2012, according to the Autodata Corporation. During December, unit [...]

Money supply growth in EMU, the US, Japan and the UK has mostly stabilized. Year-over-year money growth ranges from 2.9% in EMU to 6.1% in the US. Over three months, money growth rates are generally little changed or higher than their [...]

The Institute for Supply Management reported that expectations for business conditions in New York State improved last month to the highest level since January 2011. The diffusion index level rose to 73.2 from 69.6 in November and [...]

Year-over-year trends in nominal money growth show some improvement in the US, in EMU and even in the UK. But in Japan money growth is low and has even decelerated mildly. In the UK money growth is still contracting but the pace of [...]

The value of construction put-in-place gained 1.0% in November (5.9% y/y) following a little-revised 0.9% October rise. A 0.6% increase in building activity had been expected. The September increase of 1.4% was revised up [...]

Last year closed out with firmness in the factory sector. The Composite Index of Manufacturing Sector Activity from the Institute for Supply Management slipped to 57.0 during December from an unrevised 57.3 in November. Nevertheless, [...]

Labor market improvement was in evidence as 2013 came to a close. Initial claims for unemployment insurance slipped to 339,000 during the week ended December 28 from 341,000 in the prior week, revised from 338,000. It was the lowest [...]