Economy in Brief

Initial unemployment insurance claims fell to 346,000 (-7.5% y/y) during the week ended June 1 from a revised 357,000, initially reported as 354,000. Consensus expectations were for 345,000 claims. The four week moving average of [...]

In the European Monetary Union (EMU) the services sector improved to a reading of 47.24 from 47.01 in April. The rise in the May reading is minor and it still leaves the service sector in a contracting position in the Eurozone. [...]

Nonfarm business sector productivity growth during Q1'13 was revised slightly downward to 0.5% (SAAR) from 0.7% reported initially. That was a rebound from the 1.7% decline during Q4'12. It left the y/y gain of 0.9% on a par with the [...]

The Activity Index for the service and construction sectors from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) improved to 53.7 during May from 53.1 during April. This latest level, nevertheless, remained the lowest in nine months and [...]

Companies remain hesitant to significantly ramp up new job creation. The ADP/Moody's National Employment Report showed a 136,000 rise (1.6% y/y) in non-farm private sector jobs last month. That followed revised increases of 112,000 [...]

Nonfarm business sector productivity growth during Q1'13 was revised slightly downward to 0.5% (SAAR) from 0.7% reported initially. That was a rebound from the 1.7% decline during Q4'12. It left the y/y gain of 0.9% on a par with the [...]

The price of regular gasoline held steady last week at $3.65 per gallon and remained down just slightly versus last year. Prices remain below the $3.78 per gallon peak reached late in February. Haver Analytics constructs seasonal [...]

The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs reported that chain store sales jumped 1.9% last week (4.3% y/y). That was enough to lift this month's starting point 0.6% above the May average. For all of May sales [...]