Economy in Brief

France's business survey by the Bank of France ticked higher in July; however, remaining off its recent peak. The index edged up to 97.96 from June's 97.88, still below May's 99.08 reading. The July reading is slightly above its [...]

Consumer credit outstanding increased $20.7 billion during June following a $16.5 billion May rise, initially reported as $16.1 billion. Expectations were for a $17.1 billion increase according to the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]

Nonfarm payroll employment during July increased 215,000 (2.1% y/y) following upwardly revised increases of 231,000 and 260,000 in June and May. The latest increase fell a little short of expectations for 221,000 in the Action [...]

German industrial production dropped in June, falling by 1.4% month-to-month. Overall IP has been steadily decelerating with annualized growth rates shrinking or turning progressively to larger negative numbers as the horizon [...]

Nonfarm payroll employment during July increased 215,000 (2.1% y/y) following upwardly revised increases of 231,000 and 260,000 in June and May. The latest increase fell short of expectations for 221,000 in the Action Economics [...]

The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that job cut announcements during July jumped to 105,696 (125.4% y/y) and added to June's unrevised increase of 44,842. Layoffs spiked higher in the computer, electronics, [...]

The story this month is less about how well German orders are doing and more about how weak Germany's domestic orders have become. With an economy that is doing quite well - certainly by Europe's standards - and maintaining a low rate [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance edged up to 270,000 (-9.2% y/y) during the week ended August 1 from an unrevised 267,000 during the prior week. Claims have been hovering near this 40-year low for three months. The four-week [...]