Economy in Brief: October 2014

Nonfarm payroll employment posted a 248,000 increase during September (1.9% y/y) following upwardly revised gains of 180,000 and 243,000 during the prior two months. The rise exceeded expectations for a 215,000 increase in the Action [...]

Euro area retail sales in August snapped back sharply, rising by 1.2% after falling by 0.4% in July. The three-month performances boosted the growth rate to 4.9%, up from 0.6% over six months and 0.6% over 12 months. The growth of [...]

Nonfarm payroll employment posted a 248,000 increase during September (1.9% y/y) following upwardly revised increases of 180,000 and 243,000 during the prior two months. The rise exceeded expectations for a 215,000 increase in the [...]

The PPI in the European Monetary Union fell again in August, dropping by 0.2% after falling by 0.4% in July. The year-over-year drop is now 1.4%, a bit sharper than the 1.3% drop reported last month. The table at the bottom has PPI [...]

New orders to all manufacturers fell 10.1% (+4.1% y/y) during August following the 10.5% July jump. A 9.3% decline was expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. An 18.4% (+8.6% y/y) decline in durable goods orders led the [...]

The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that job cut announcements declined to 30,477 (-24.4% y/y) during September, the lowest level since June 2007. Layoffs declined m/m in the electronics, pharmaceutical, [...]

The labor market continues to improve. Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 287,000 (-9.7% y/y) in the week ended September 27 from 295,000 during the prior week, revised from 293,000. The Action Economics Forecast Survey [...]

According to the Autodata Corporation, September sales of light vehicles fell back to 16.43 million units (SAAR) from 17.53 million in August. The decline retraced most of the August jump to the 2006 high, and left unit sales up 5.8% [...]