Economy in Brief

The industrial commodity price index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) improved 4.0% since the middle of March reflecting improvement amongst several industrial sectors. Prices in the crude [...]

German industrial output fell by 0.5% in March, a drop that was not expected. Furthermore, German exports rose by 1.2% on the month, faster than expected, driving a wedge of inconsistency between the IP and export results for the [...]

Nonfarm payroll employment during April increased 223,000 (2.2% y/y) following an 85,000 March rise, revised from 126,000. Expectations roughly matched a 225,000 gain in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Improvement in services [...]

Nonfarm payroll employment during April increased 223,000 (2.2% y/y) following an 85,000 March rise, revised from 126,000. Expectations had been for a 225,000 gain in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Improvement in services and [...]

Consumer credit outstanding increased $20.5 billion (6.9% y/y) during March following a $14.8 billion February rise, initially reported as $15.5 billion. The gain was the strongest since July. Expectations were for a $16.0 billion [...]

Job market churning increased last month; job cuts surged along with hiring. The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that job cut announcements during April increased 61,582 (52.8% y/y) following a sharp drop [...]

German real orders rose by 0.9% in March after two months of falling. Orders, however, are still falling at a 6.1% annual rate in the just completed first quarter. But this drop is not the reason for my pessimism over this report. [...]

The job market remains on solid ground. In the week ended May 2nd, initial claims for jobless insurance increased to 265,000 from an unrevised 262,000, the lowest levels in fifteen years. The four week moving average declined to [...]