Economy in Brief

Japan's retail sales rose by a seasonally adjusted 1.5% in March as NSA nominal sales fell sharply. Seasonally adjusted sales are falling fast over three months and six months as well as declining over 12 months. The speed of the [...]

The Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions indicated deterioration in business activity during May. The New York index declined to -9.02 following unrevised positive readings in the prior two months. Nineteen [...]

The headline Final Demand Producer Price Index increased 0.2% (0.0% y/y) in April after an unrevised 0.1% March dip. The rise compared to a 0.3% increase expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. A 0.3% decline (-2.0% y/y) in [...]

Euro area GDP was revised down from a quarterly gain of 0.6% to a gain of 0.5%. The annualized rise is presented in the table at 2.1%. We also show year-over-year results for the last four quarters. The final column ranks each unit's [...]

Total business inventories grew 0.4% m/m in March (+1.5% y/y) following a 0.1% dip in February, which was unrevised. Total business sales rose 0.3% m/m (-1.7% y/y), their first increase since last June. Retail inventories increased [...]

Total retail sales & spending at restaurants increased 1.3% (3.0% y/y) during April following a 0.3% decline, unrevised from the preliminary report. The rise compared to expectations for a 0.8% improvement in the Action Economics [...]

The labor market is under pressure. Initial claims for unemployment insurance jumped to 294,000 (7.8% y/y) during the week ended May 7, after rising to an unrevised 274,000 in the prior week. It was the highest level of claims since [...]

EMU economic data continues to show spotty results. Industrial production for the euro area in March is now tabulated, showing a drop of 0.8%. Output is still higher in the quarter even after two straight months of IP declines because [...]