Economy in Brief: 2008

During January the U.S. foreign trade deficit widened to $58.2B from a revised $57.9B in December, which was shallower than initially reported. Consensus expectations had been for a deficit of $59.6B. Lifted by the weaker dollar, U.S. [...]

The ZEW index continues to show erosion in the current conditions index but the forward-looking expectations portion of the survey is up for two months running. A year ago current conditions stood at 69.2 compared to 32.1 in March [...]

Japan orders are showing signs of erratic rebound. Orders hit their cycle low early in 2007. Since then they have been rebounding irregularly. Foreign demand is showing the sharpest increase but the domestic/foreign order breakdowns [...]

Japan’s economy watcher’s index made a long awaited bounce in February. The future conditions index rebounded most sharply. The current conditions and current employment indices each made soft rebounds as well. The future index is now [...]

China's balance on trade in goods declined substantially in February to $8.6 billion from $19.5 billion in January. Both exports and imports declined; the former by 20% and the latter by 13%. The unadjusted figures are shown in the [...]

Credit market debt outstanding owed by all sectors of the economy grew 8.6% AR (8.9% y/y) during the fourth quarter of 2007. The gain was a marked slowdown from the strong 10.9% rise during 3Q. Boosted by the growing budget deficit, [...]

Credit market debt outstanding owed by all sectors of the economy grew 8.6% AR (8.9% y/y) during the fourth quarter of 2007. The gain was a marked slowdown from the strong 10.9% rise during 3Q. Boosted by the growing budget deficit, [...]

German IP was a breath of fresh air in January. But it may not have been made in the best of circumstances. Capital goods output surged by 6.2% m/m possibly a result of special rules favoring investment that are phasing out. [...]