Economy in Brief: January 2018

The services readings and total PMIs are being presented or finalized in the IHS Markit framework. In the EMU, manufacturing and services currently have the same rank or queue standing at their respective 98.6 percentile. In this [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance increased to 250,000 (0.4% y/y) during the week ended December 30 following 247,000 claims in the week prior, revised from 247,000. Expectations had been for 239,000 claims in the Action [...]

The ADP/Moody's National Employment Report indicated that private nonfarm payrolls rose 250,000 (2.1% y/y) during December, the largest increase since March. The rise followed little- revised increases of 185,000 and 238,000 in [...]

Total sales of light vehicles during 2017 totaled 17.27 million units, just slightly below the record 17.51 million averaged during 2015 and 2016, according to the Autodata Corporation. During December alone, however, sales improved [...]

The value of construction put-in-place increased 0.8% (2.6% y/y) during November following a 0.9% October increase, initially reported as 1.4%. September's 1.3% gain was stronger than reported earlier. A 0.7% gain in activity had been [...]

The ISM manufacturing sector composite index increased to 59.7 during December and recovered November's decline. For all of last year, the index rose to 57.4, its highest level since 2004. A level of 58.2 had been expected for [...]

The Confederation of British Industry orders index flat-lined in December at its all-time high reading over the period since the European Monetary Union was formed. Export orders have moved up strongly as well but they are short of [...]

Retail gasoline prices increased to $2.52 per gallon (6.0% y/y) last week, the highest level since late November. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in gasoline pump prices. At $2.64 per gallon, [...]