Economy in Brief

Recent strength in the U.S. factory sector has done little for industrial commodity prices as growth abroad struggles. The industrial commodity price index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) [...]

The Index of Leading Economic Indicators from the Conference Board increased 0.2% (6.2% y/y) during February following an unrevised 0.2% January improvement. A 0.2% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index for March declined to 5.0 from an unrevised 5.2 in February. The number remained at the lowest point since February 2014 and was [...]

During all of 2014, the current account deficit deepened to $410.6 billion from $400.3 billion in 2013. The increase occurred as exports of goods, services & income rose 3.5% and imports gained 3.4%. The deficit deepened to $113.5 [...]

Initial jobless insurance claims of 291,000 in the week ended March 14 compared to 290,000 in the prior week, revised from 289,000. The four-week moving average of initial claims notched higher to 304,750. The Action Economics [...]

Japan's sector indices improved month-to-month in three of four sectors as well as overall. But year-over-year all sectors are lower and all sectors have been net lower over 12 months for seven months in a row. The Bank of Japan has [...]

At today's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed indicated its continued expectation for moderate economic growth and improving labor market conditions. It stated that consumer spending was benefitting from the decline [...]

Italy's trade picture showed a weakening in exports and still-weak import growth as it echoed the message from the broader European trade data today. European data showed a larger surplus in January as exports remained flat and [...]