Economy in Brief

Total business inventories increased 0.5% in May (5.6% y/y) after an unrevised 0.6% advance during April. The stronger y/y rise contrasted with the 3.0% gain last summer. Inventories in the factory sector rose 0.8% (3.8%). Wholesale [...]

Import prices nudged up 0.1% during June (1.2% y/y) following a 0.3% May rise, last month reported as 0.1%. A 0.3% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. A 1.4% rise (6.4% y/y) in petroleum prices provided [...]

The Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions jumped during July to 25.60 from 19.28 in June. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that it was the highest level since April 2010 and beat expectations for a [...]

The ZEW index in June saw its current component backtrack for the first time in eight months while the expectations reading fell for the seventh month in a row. The current reading had improved for seven months in a row until this [...]

Retail and food service sales nudged 0.2% higher (4.3% y/y) during June following a 0.5% May rise, revised from 0.3%. A 0.6% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Sales of motor vehicles & parts fell 0.3% [...]

Households expectations regarding inflation have been fairly sanguine. The expected inflation rate of 3.2% during the next year was unchanged and near the midpoint of the varying changes during the last year. Inflation expectations [...]

The European Monetary Union has reported its aggregate and industrial production result for May: the results show a huge decline of 1.1% in May output. Manufacturing output is down by 1.7% in May; this is the weakest one-month [...]

The Federal Government posted a $70.5 billion budget surplus during June of FY 2014, disappointing expectations for a $105.0 billion surplus in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. For the first nine months of the current fiscal [...]