Economy in Brief: February 2015

The value of construction put-in-place increased 6.1% last year following a 5.7% rise in 2013. The rise was led by an improved 11.0% increase in nonresidential building activity followed by an easier 5.1% gain in residential building. [...]

Factory sector activity has lost steam. The latest reading from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) declined to 53.5 following its December drop to 55.1. The number was the lowest since January 2014 and down from an August high [...]

Even with the manufacturing PMI rebound for the EMU in January, the broad brush shows PMI averages over shorter periods are still declining. France is a minor exception. Spain is accelerating and is a major exception (fourth largest [...]

Personal consumption expenditures declined 0.3% during December following little-revised readings of 0.5% and 0.3% during the prior two months. The figure matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. For the full [...]