Economy in Brief: March 2016

The job market firmed during February. Payroll employment increased by 242,000 after slowing in January, while the unemployment held steady at 4.9%, its lowest level since February 2008. The overall unemployment rate including [...]

The U.S. foreign trade deficit increased to $45.7 billion in January, following December's $44.7 billion, which was revised from $43.4 billion. The January result was wider than the Action Economics Forecast Survey estimate of $43.2 [...]

The job market firmed during February. Payroll employment increased by 242,000 after slowing in January, while the unemployment held steady at 4.9%, its lowest level since February 2008. The overall unemployment rate including [...]

When I began to detect a slowdown in the U.S. and the global economy, I portrayed the final outcome as likely to be the result of a strong services sector vs. a weak manufacturing sector. So the final outcome would be the result of [...]

New orders in the manufacturing sector increased 1.6% (-3.3% y/y) during January following an unrevised 2.9% December decline. The rise compared to expectations for a 1.5% increase in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The [...]

The Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Business from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) was little-changed at 53.4 during February versus an unrevised 53.5 in January. It was the lowest reading since February 2014. [...]

Nonfarm output per hour declined 2.2% at an annual rate (+0.5% y/y) during Q4'15, revised from a -3.0% estimated last month. The shortfall followed a 2.0% Q3 increase. A 3.1% decline had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance claims increased to 278,000 during the week ended February 27 following an unrevised increase to 272,000 during the prior week. The four-week moving average slipped to 270,250 and remained [...]