Economy in Brief: 2008

At the end of 2007, new single family home sales dropped 4.7% to 604,000 after falling 12.6% m/m during November. A sales rate of 649,000 was the Consensus expectation for last month. The full year, however, contained much worse news. [...]

France’s business climate indicator is steady this month at 109; over 12 months the index is rising at a steady 2.8% annual rate. Still there is no sign of advance in the index since March of 2007 when it has hovered between 108 and [...]

German import prices surged by 0.5%. But strip out energy and the rise is reduced to 0.1%; export prices excluding energy are flat, too. Year-over-year import prices excluding energy are up by 0.1%; export prices on that basis are up [...]

During December the number of mass layoff events rose another 7.8%, according to BLS data, and that countered a 1.3% November decline.These specific layoff incidents are called "mass layoffs" because they involve 50 or more initial [...]

During December the number of mass layoff events rose another 7.8%, according to BLS data, and that countered a 1.3% November decline.These specific layoff incidents are called "mass layoffs" because they involve 50 or more initial [...]

Italy shivers while the Euro Area overheats: What good can come of this? Not only is PM Prodi having a difficult time, but so is the Italian consumer. Whatever fate awaits Prodi, the consumer is already giving a vote of no-confidence [...]

Bounce raises the question of EMU-US de-coupling. Apparently Germans agree… They agree with the ECB that weakness does not threaten Germany or Europe and they see better times ahead as the IFO expectations index that looks six months [...]

Japan’s exports show a withering trend as Japan’s imports continue to rise at a brisk pace. Export and import price indexes, however, show that export volumes are being maintained better than the nominal figures tell us as export [...]