Economy in Brief: 2019

Total borrowing in U.S. financial markets decreased in Q4 2018, according to the Federal Reserve's Financial Accounts data, which were published Thursday, March 7. It totaled $1,826 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, [...]

The job market during February was filled with contrary indications, some pertaining to the unwinding effects of the government shutdown in January, and some due to adverse weather conditions. Nonfarm payrolls increased 20,000 last [...]

Total housing starts rebounded markedly in January, surging 18.6% m/m (but still down 7.8% y/y) to 1.230 million units at an annual rate after having collapsed 14.0% m/m in December to a slightly downwardly revised 1.037 million units [...]

The job market during February was filled with contrary indications. Nonfarm payrolls increased 20,000 last month (1.7% y/y) following a 311,000 gain, revised from 304,000. December's increase was revised up slightly to 227,000 from [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance were 225,000 in the week ended February 23... Continuing claims for unemployment insurance rose to 1.805 million in the February 16 week........... Initial claims for unemployment insurance [...]

It totaled $2,737 billion The Financial Accounts data are in Haver's FFUNDS database. Associated information is compiled in the Integrated Macroeconomic Accounts produced jointly with the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA); these are [...]

Italian retail sales jumped 0.5% in January, a strong-looking gain made less so by the recognition that sales also fell by -0.6% in December. Expressed in real terms, Italian sales log a 0.6% rise in January against a drop of 'only' [...]

Output per hour in the nonfarm business sector grew 1.9% (SAAR) in Q4'18, an increase fairly stable with the Q3 gain. During the last four quarters, productivity growth picked up to 1.8%, the quickest rate of increase in three years. [...]