Economy in Brief

The value of construction put-in-place declined 1.1% during January (+1.8% y/y) following a 0.8% improvement, revised from 0.4%. A 0.3% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Private construction activity fell [...]

Factory sector momentum continues to slacken. The February reading from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) declined to 52.9 following its January drop to an unrevised 53.5. It was the fifth m/m decline in the index in the last [...]

European unemployment rates show more pervasive declines in January. Seven of these 11 early EMU reporters show unemployment rates lower in January 2015 compared to December 2014. Eight show rates net lower over three months. Nine [...]

Personal income rose an expected 0.3% during January (4.6% y/y) following an unrevised 0.3% December increase. The expectations figure is from the Consensus Economics Forecast Survey. Wages & salaries strengthened 0.6% (4.9% y/y) [...]

Chicago purchasing managers indicated that their February Business Barometer Index dropped sharply to 45.8 this month from an unrevised 59.4 in January. Severe winter weather and a West Coast port strike were sited by the Purchasing [...]

Suddenly after outright falls for two straight months, Italy's inflation rate is up by 0.6% in February. The monthly gain is the largest since October 2011. Italy's domestic inflation gauge also reversed to gain 0.3% after two [...]

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that pending sales of single-family homes rebounded 1.7% during January, recouping a 1.5% December decline, last month reported as a 3.7% drop. These sales are reported as an index [...]

Real GDP growth during Q4 2014 was revised down to 2.2% (2.4% y/y) from the advance estimate of a 2.6% gain. The increase compared to an expected 2.1% rise in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. During all of last year, real GDP [...]