Economy in Brief

The Chicago Federal Reserve reported that its National Activity Index (CFNAI) for May gained to 0.21 and recovered the April decline to -0.15, revised from -0.32. The reading indicates that overall U.S. economic activity is on a [...]

Industrial commodity prices recently have retraced gains logged since early-February. The industrial commodity price index, from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER), averaged 165.09 this week, down [...]

The EMU current account surplus widened month-to-month and is higher year-over-year. The balance of trade in goods is in surplus and it widened month-to-month as well as year-over-year. The services balance is also in surplus and is [...]

The Index of Leading Economic Indicators, from the Conference Board, improved 0.5% during May (5.9% y/y), the fourth straight month of firm increase. The rise roughly matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey for a [...]

Initial jobless insurance claims declined to 312,000 during the week ended June 14 from 318,000 during the prior week, revised from 317,000. A 314,000 level of claims was expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Claims [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank reported that its General Business Conditions Index for June improved to 17.8 from 15.4 in May. The figure was the highest since September and beat consensus expectations for a decline to 13.9, [...]

There are not too many different ways to look at the ongoing weakness in Japan. All sectors are weakening and in all cases the drop off has been relatively severe. The headline index stands only in the 33rd percentile of its historic [...]

The U.S. current account deficit expanded sharply last quarter to $111.2 billion from $87.3 billion in Q4. It was the largest quarterly deficit since Q3 2012 and represented 2.6% of GDP. The Action Economics Forecast Survey called for [...]