Economy in Brief: February 2020

Germany's orders fell yet again in December and even faster than in November. The drop – the severe drop- was not expected. And this is only December. Germany has yet to post results for the period when the coronavirus took hold in [...]

Productivity in the nonfarm business sector during Q4'19 increased 1.4% (SAAR) following an unrevised 0.2% Q3 slip. The gain matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. It raised productivity by 1.8% during the last [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell 15,000 to 202,000 (-11.8% y/y) during the week ended February 1 from 217,000 in the prior week, revised from 216,000. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 215,000 initial claims. [...]

Among the 23 PMI readings in January, only four are below 50 and only eight show month-to-month deceleration. (This count excludes the first three regions at the top where timely January readings are not available and December values [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its Mortgage Loan Index increased 5.0% during the week of January 31 and built on a 7.2% gain in the prior week. Applications to refinance a loan jumped 15.3% (182.5% y/y) and built on [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services declined to $43.09 billion during November..... The international trade data, including relevant data on oil prices, can be found in Haver's USECON database. Detailed figures on [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services increased to $48.88 billion in December from $43.69 billion in November, revised from $43.09 billion. A $48.0 billion deficit had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]

The Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Activity from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) increased to 55.5 during January from 54.9 in December, revised from 55.0. It was the highest level since August but remained below [...]