Economy in Brief

November was a difficult month for global manufacturing. The PMIs from select countries in the table above show 14 countries and one area (EMU); among these, PMI gauges fell in six of them and two others were flat. That's bad news for [...]

Activity in the manufacturing sector declined last month according the Institute for Supply Management. Its Composite Index of factory sector activity fell to 48.6 during November from an unrevised October reading of 50.1. This was [...]

Gasoline prices at the pump declined last week to $2.06 per gallon, down 3 cents from the prior week. Prices were down 25.9% y/y and roughly equaled the January low of $2.04. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported that its November Composite index of factory sector activity increased to -4.9 from -12.7. The reading is up from the May low of -20.8. The production component showed the most improvement [...]

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that pending sales of single-family homes gained 0.2% during October (2.1% y/y) following a revised 1.6% September drop, initially reported as -2.3%. Sales remained 4.1% below the [...]

The Chicago Business Barometer in November plummeted 7.5 points to 48.7 and fully reversed its October rise. The latest equaled the lowest reading since May 2015 and was led by a sharp decline in new orders. The drop in the overall [...]

Japan's industrial production index rose by 1.4% in October, pushing the three-month growth rate up to 5.4% annual rate. Manufacturing now has two consecutive monthly gains of more than 1%. Still, growth is negative on balance over [...]

The EU overall sentiment index slipped this month while the index for EMU members was dead flat at last month's level. The EU index sits in the 71st percentile of its historic queue of data. The EMU index is a bit weaker, standing in [...]