Economy in Brief

Overall industrial output fell 0.3% during April (+1.9% y/y) following a revised 0.3% March shortfall, initially reported as -0.6%. A 0.1% slip in production had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Manufacturing [...]

Consumer confidence in Japan, a diffusion index, fell to 41.5 in April from 41.7 in March. The fall itself is not very telling, but it confirms that Japan is really stuck in the doldrums. The confidence index sits in the 48.8 [...]

The overall Final Demand Producer Price Index declined 0.4% during April (-1.3% y/y) following an unrevised 0.2% March increase. It was the fifth decline in the last six months. A 0.2% uptick was expected in the Action Economics [...]

The job market remains firm. In the week ended May 9, initial claims for jobless insurance slipped to 264,000 from an unrevised 265,000, the lowest levels in fifteen years. The four week moving average declined to 271,750. The Action [...]

There is little good news for Japan's consumer sector. The chart shows the damage and volatility transmitted to retail spending as spending boomed ahead of the announced sales tax hike then plunged in its wake. And now even [...]

Total business inventories nudged 0.1% higher during March following a 0.2% February rise, earlier reported as 0.3%. During the last three months, inventory growth slowed to 1.1% (AR) from its high of 7.3% late in 2013. Total business [...]

Import prices declined 0.3% (-10.7% y/y) last month following a 0.2% March fall, revised from -0.3%. The Action Economics Forecast Survey anticipated a 0.2% rise. Prices of petroleum imports increased 1.0% (-47.0% y/y) after a 1.6% [...]

EMU GDP accelerated in Q1 2015 with growth rising to an annual rate of 1.6%, up from 1.3% in Q4 2014. It's not much of a pickup, but it is acceleration. Among the early reporters of GDP in Q1 2015, only two, Finland and Greece, have [...]