Economy in Brief: October 2008

Nonfarm payrolls declined 159,000 during September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The latest decline was the largest during each of the last nine months and it exceeded Consensus expectations for a 105,000. It was [...]

Today Jean Claude Trichet opened the door to a consideration of changing interest rates in the direction of a cut. It was a surprise and the impact of the statement stung the euro. But be clear that inflation remains wildly over the [...]

Factory inventories increased another 0.6% during August, the same as during July. That lifted the y/y gain to 8.6%, its strongest since late 2006. Growth in inventories within the transportation sector has been strong at 14.6% y/y. [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 497,000 from an upwardly revised 496,000 during the week prior. The latest was the highest level since the recession of 2001. The four-week moving average jumped to 474,000 (48.8% y/y) [...]

U.S. September sales of light vehicles reversed their August rise and fell 8.9%, according to the Autodata Corporation. The sales rate of 12.50M units fell back to its July level, which was the lowest sales rates since 1992. Sales for [...]

U.S. September sales of light vehicles reversed their August rise and fell 8.9%, according to the Autodata Corporation. The sales rate of 12.50M units fell back to its July level, which was the lowest sales rates since 1992. Sales for [...]

The PMI details for the e-Zone and the UK makes for dismal reading. After a widespread but small rebound in August the various indices all are lower in September. All readings are below the 50% mark except for Greece. The overall EMU [...]

Japan’s tankan survey is very weak and showing a continuing slide across the various size-class of respondents as well as across industries. It is the LARGE company module of this survey that tends to get the headlines. But the survey [...]