Economy in Brief: 2019

The Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Activity from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) rose more than expected to 59.7 in February. This followed two consecutive monthly declines. While suggestive of strong growth, the [...]

The retail price for gasoline rose to $2.42 per gallon last week (-5.4% y/y), the fourth consecutive week of increase. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in gasoline pump prices. The seasonally- [...]

Composite or total economy indexes show pronounced weakness in February when the bottom seems to fall out in China and in Hong Kong as weakness permeates many other countries. However, the picture is still foggy since there are also [...]

The value of construction put-in-place declined 0.6% (+0.8% y/y) during December. It reversed an unrevised 0.8% November gain. A 0.2% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. During all of 2018, construction's [...]

PPI inflation is on-the-run again in the EMU despite a pick-up in January. This largely stems from falling oil prices as Brent oil prices are falling at a 13% pace over 12 months, at a 36% pace over six months and at a 69% annualized [...]

The value of construction put-in-place declined 0.6% (+0.8% y/y) during December. It reversed an unrevised 0.8% November gain. A 0.2% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. During all of 2018, construction's [...]

Sales of light vehicles decreased 0.8% (-2.6% year-on-year) in February to 16.57 million units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR). This is the weakest vehicle sales since February 2015. An 8.1% drop in auto sales (-11.6% y/y) [...]

The ISM manufacturing index unexpectedly declined to 54.2 in February, the weakest reading since November 2016. The Action Economics Forecast Survey anticipated an increase to 56.0. Over the past ten years, there has been a 62% [...]