Economy in Brief

The U.S. Treasury Department reported a $64.4 billion budget deficit during August, half the $128.7 billion deficit during August of 2014. An $84.0 billion deficit had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Because [...]

The overall Final Demand Producer Price Index was flat in August (-0.8% y/y) following a 0.2% increase in July. The Action Economics Forecast Survey looked for a 0.1% decrease. Prices excluding food & energy were also stronger than [...]

France's current account slipped into deficit as its deficit on goods trade moved into deeper deficit. Export growth has been exceeding import growth for some time but only over the last nine months have exports got higher enough to [...]

Both import and export prices declined markedly in August. Yes, lower petroleum prices were a main feature, but other categories also had more than marginal decreases. Import prices fell 1.8% in August (-11.4% y/y) after July's 0.9% [...]

Spain is the large-economy success story for industrial production in the euro area. IP in Spain rose by 0.4% in July, up at a 3.8% annual rate over three months. The three-month pace is near the top pace for any EMU nation and by far [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance eased to 275,000 during the week ended September 5 from the previous week's 281,000. This latter figure was revised from 282,000, a small but unusual downward adjustment in a series that is [...]

The job openings rate rose to 3.9% during July, a new high, from 3.6% in June and 3.3% a year ago. The job openings rate is the number of job openings on the last business day of the month as a percent of total employment plus job [...]

The Quarterly Services Survey is the most timely and comprehensive measure of economic activity in the U.S. service sector. It is conducted by the Census Bureau and covers 5,000 service businesses with paid employees. The Bureau of [...]