Economy in Brief

In December, total orders in Germany fell by 0.7%. Foreign orders rose for the third consecutive month after falling for three months in a row. Year-over-year foreign orders remain as the weaker of the two series. Domestic orders fell [...]

Nonfarm payrolls increased 151,000 during January following increases of 262,000 during December and 280,000 in November. These revisions subtracted a net 2,000 jobs. Expectations had been for a 198,000 rise in the Action Economic [...]

The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that job cut announcements during January jumped to 75,114 (41.6% y/y) following the prior month's unrevised decline to 23,622. The latest was the highest level of in six [...]

New orders in the manufacturing sector fell 2.9% during December following a 0.7% easing in November, revised from -0.2%. The decline roughly matched expectations for a 2.7% drop in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The shortfall [...]

New vehicle registrations in Japan fell by 2.5% in January as they continue to gyrate with offsetting up down movements for the third consecutive month. On balance, registrations are higher over three months but lower over six months [...]

Nonfarm output per hour declined 3.0% at an annual rate (+0.3% y/y) during Q4'15 following a 2.1% Q3 increase. A 1.8% decline had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. It was the third decline in the last five [...]

Initial claims for jobless insurance increased to 285,000 during the week ended January 30 from 277,000 in the prior week, revised from 278,000. The four-week moving average increased to 284,750, up slightly versus late last year. [...]

The Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Business from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) declined to 53.5 during January from an upwardly revised 55.8 in December. It was the lowest level since February 2014. Consensus [...]