Economy in Brief

Finalized manufacturing PMIs for the European monetary union fell in March by 1.18 points. Of the nine countries that provide independent topical readings for the manufacturing sectors, eight of nine show declines in March compared to [...]

Orders to all manufacturers increased an expected 3.0% (2.7% y/y) during February, following a 1.0% January decline, revised from -2.0%. A 5.6% rebound (3.9% y/y) in durable goods bookings, little-revised from the advance report, led [...]

The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs reported that chain store sales surged 4.7% last week (2.3% y/y) to the highest level on record. The gain pulled March sales 2.6% above the February average which ticked [...]

Drivers are finally realizing some relief when filling up. The pump price for a gallon of regular gasoline fell by 3 cents last week to $3.65 per gallon (-7.5% y/y), continuing the modest decline from the late-February high of $3.78. [...]

Building activity improved in February. An expected 1.2% rise (7.9% y/y) in construction put in place followed a little-revised 2.1% January decline. December figures, however, were lowered sharply. Improvement in building activity [...]

Recent improvement in the factory sector stalled last month. The March composite index of manufacturing activity from the Institute for Supply Management fell to 51.3 from an unrevised 54.2 in February. The decline reversed most of [...]

Japan's Tankan reading in 2013Q1 for manufacturers rose to -8 from -12 in Q4. This was just short of expectations that a -7 reading would emerge. Non-MFG improved to +6 from +4. The readings are still weak. The MFG survey stands at [...]

The University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment for March improved for the full month to 78.6 (3.1% y/y) from its mid-month reading of 71.8. The figure was up versus 77.6 in February and compared to the consensus forecast for [...]