Economy in Brief

Industrial sector activity continues to lose forward momentum. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that the Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions declined to -1.43 this month from an unrevised 3.05 in [...]

The upcoming summer driving season is lending strength to petroleum prices. The price of regular gasoline gained six cents last week to $3.60 per gallon yet it's still 4.0% lower than last year. Prices reached a peak of $3.78 per [...]

The Zew index that surveys financial experts in Germany moved lower in April compared to March for both its current and its expectations readings. The current reading notched down to a 9.2 net reading from 13.6 in March. The [...]

Prices in the U.S. foreign trade sector weakened further last month. Import prices fell 0.5% (-2.6% y/y) during April after a 0.2% March decline, earlier reported as -0.5%. The Action Economics survey looked for a 0.4% drop in prices. [...]

Small business optimism rebounded last month and more-than-recovered its March weakness. The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index jumped during April to a seasonally adjusted 92.0 [...]

Total business inventories were roughly unchanged during March (4.5% y/y) for the second consecutive month. The figure was accompanied by a 1.1% drop (+1.8% y/y) in business sales which reversed the prior month's increase. As a [...]

There was broad-based improvement in retail purchases last month. Retail sales during April nudged up 0.1% (3.7% y/y) following a 0.5% slip in March, earlier reported as -0.4%. Earlier numbers also were revised. The latest figure [...]

The Federal Government ran a budget surplus during April of FY'13 of $112.9B, twice the surplus during April of last year. The figure slightly exceeded consensus expectations for a surplus of $95.0B. So far this fiscal year the [...]