Economy in Brief

Through April, PPI prices in the EMU still are falling, but barely so. Monthly trends across member nations are mixed. The HICP, just reported, showed its first gain in six months, rising 0.3% year-over-year. In April, unemployment is [...]

Momentum in the building sector recovered of late, perhaps helped by better weather. The value of construction put-in-place increased 2.2% during April (4.8% y/y) following a 0.5% March rise, revised from -0.6%. Three-month growth of [...]

Factory sector activity improved during May following several months of lackluster performance. The Composite Index from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) improved to 52.8 following an unrevised 51.5 in April and March. The [...]

Personal income recovered 0.4% during April (4.1% y/y) after remaining unchanged in March, as indicated last month. Expectations had been for a 0.3% rise in the Consensus Economics Forecast Survey. Wages & salaries improved 0.2% (4.6% [...]

The EMU manufacturing PMI in May edged up to 52.3 from 52.0 in April. The three-month average is barely crawling higher from 12-month to six-month to three-month. EMU momentum is barely identifiable. Germany show the same bare-bones [...]

Real GDP fell 0.7% (SAAR) last quarter, revised from a 0.2% gain estimated initially. The decline compared to expectations for a 0.9% fall in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. It was the third quarterly decline since the economic [...]

Chicago purchasing managers reported that their May Business Barometer Index declined to 46.2 during May following an unrevised rise to 52.3 in April. It was the third figure in the last four months below 50, the break-even point [...]

Real GDP fell 0.7% (SAAR) last quarter, revised from a 0.2% gain estimated initially. The decline compared to expectations for a 0.9% fall in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. It was the third quarterly decline since the economic [...]