Economy in Brief

Total business inventories increased 0.4% in November (4.0% y/y), the slowest increase in three months. This inventory rise accompanied a 0.8% jump (4.0% y/y) in business sales after October's 0.5% increase. As a result, the [...]

Import prices were unchanged last month (-1.3% y/y) following sharp declines during the prior two months. A 0.3% increase had been expected in the Action Economics survey. For all of last year, import prices fell 1.1%, the first [...]

Manufacturing industrial production in the euro area spurted by 1.9% in November, offsetting two straight months of declines in October and September. Growth rates show acceleration from a 3.2% year-over-year rate to rates of 4.3% [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index improved to 93.9 during December and returned to its September level. The latest figure remained down sharply, however, from the May high [...]

Retail spending increased 0.2% (4.1% y/y) during December after a 0.4% November gain, revised down from 0.7%. The latest increase matched expectations in the Action Economics survey. For all of last year retail sales increased 4.3%, [...]

The Federal Government ran a $53.2 billion budget surplus during December of FY 2014. The latest figure compares to the Action Economics Forecast Survey expectation of a $44.0 billion surplus. In the first three months of this fiscal [...]

The OECD leading economic indicators continue to show progress. Even in China there is some increase in the indicator for November although China is a case of lingering weakness compared to most of the other countries in the sample. [...]

Weather may have been a factor, but nonfarm payroll employment growth of 74,000 (1.6% y/y) during December was well short of gains of 241,000 and 200,000 during the prior two months. The rise disappointed consensus expectations for [...]