Economy in Brief

The value of construction put-in-place gained 0.6% in July (5.2 y/y) following little change during June, initially reported as a 0.6% decline. Figures back through last year were revised upward. A 0.3% rise in building activity had [...]

This may not turn out to be a watershed month for Europe, or for the European Monetary Union, but the manufacturing PMIs for the countries listed in the table including some of the key countries from the economic union as well as in [...]

The Composite Index of Manufacturing Sector Activity from the Institute for Supply Management improved to 55.7 during August from an unrevised 55.4 in July. The figure remained at the highest level since June 2011 and beat [...]

The Composite Index of Manufacturing Sector Activity from the Institute for Supply Management improved to 55.7 during August from an unrevised 55.4 in July. The figure remained at the highest level since June 2011 and beat [...]

Both the overall EU and the EMU measures of Sentiment rose sharply in August 2013 compared to July. The EU index rose to 98.1 from 95. Going back to 1985 this is the ninth largest month-to-month change in that overall index. Similarly [...]

Despite a late-month improvement, the Reuters/University of Michigan survey of consumer sentiment during August fell sharply to 82.1 from an unrevised 85.1 in July. The mid-month reading of sentiment was 80.0. The level of sentiment [...]

Personal income in July matched expectations and ticked 0.1% higher (3.3% y/y) following an unrevised 0.3% June rise. May's increase was, however, reduced to 0.3% from 0.4%. Holding back income's increase was a 0.3% decline (+3.4% [...]

Italian business and consumer confidence both improved in August. However, the relative state of the confidence of businesses and consumers is still quite poor. When we take the current month's standing for confidence and place it in [...]