Economy in Brief

Improvement in the job market is strengthening. Payroll employment increased 257,000 (2.3% y/y) during January following upwardly revised gains of 329,000 and 423,000 during the prior two months. The average change in payrolls during [...]

German industrial production keeps dialing up positive growth rates even if they are small gains. The sequential growth rates from one-year and in show overall output accelerating, moving up from -0.4% of 12 months to an annualized [...]

Improvement in the job market is strengthening. Payroll employment increased 257,000 (2.3% y/y) during January following upwardly revised gains of 329,000 and 423,000 during the prior two months. The average change in payrolls during [...]

Employment: (M/M Chg., 000s) Jan Dec Nov Y/Y 2014 2013 2012 Payroll Employment 257 329 423 2.3% 1.9% 1.7% 1.7% Previous -- 252 353 -- -- -- -- Manufacturing 22 26 45 1.9 1.4 0.8 1.7 Construction 39 44 30 5.1 4.8 3.7 2.1 Private [...]

The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that job cut announcements during January jumped to 53,041 (17.6% y/y) from 32,640 in December. It was the highest layoff level since February 2013. Layoffs rose m/m in [...]

Nonfarm productivity declined at a 1.8% annual rate last quarter and was unchanged y/y. The figure followed an upwardly revised 3.7% increase in Q3. For all of last year, worker productivity rose 0.8% on average, about the same as it [...]

The U.S. foreign trade deficit in goods and services increased to $46.6 billion during December from $39.8, revised from $39.0 billion. It was the deepest deficit since November 2012 and compared to $38.0 billion expected in the [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance increased to 278,000 during the week ended January 31 from 267,000 in the prior week, revised from 265,000. Claims were at the lowest level since the end of October. The four-week moving [...]