Economy in Brief

The Belgian National Bank Survey shows an improving trend, but the index still signals contraction in November. The negative reading for manufacturing is halved in November compared to October. But wholesaling and retailing are only [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that the September job openings rate rose to 2.8% from a downwardly-revised 2.7% in August. The job openings rate is the number of job [...]

The EMU economy continues to advance, but the November PMI gain is decidedly lackluster. The manufacturing gauge rose to 51.55 from 51.30. In the service sector conditions barely improved as the index advanced to 50.94 from 50.91. [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank reported that its General Business Conditions Index for November fell back to 6.5 from 19.8 in October. The figure was at its lowest level in six months and was weaker than Consensus expectations [...]

The Producer Price Index for finished goods matched expectations and declined 0.2% last month (+0.3% y/y) following a 0.1% September slip. Prices excluding food & energy rose 0.2% in October (1.4% y/y), the quickest rise since June. [...]

The job market is showing more signs of improvement. Initial claims for jobless insurance fell to 323,000 (-19.3% y/y) during the week ended November 16 from 344,000 during the previous week, revised up from 339,000. It was the lowest [...]

PPI trends in Germany are still working lower. This is also true of the HICP. Over 12-months the German PPI is showing contraction. Over 12-months the German CPI is rising by 1.2% or by 1.5% excluding energy. The chart depicts the [...]

Sales of existing homes declined 3.2% (+6.0% y/y) during October to 5.120 million (AR). The drop followed an unrevised September 1.9% shortfall, according to the National Association of Realtors. Consensus expectations had been for [...]