Economy in Brief

Despite some sporadic increases in quarterly GDP growth for the various EU and EMU member in the table, what marks this data set most consistently is that over most of the recent quarters all of the counties are experiencing [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank reported that its General Business Conditions Index retraced earlier gains. It declined to -10.7 this month after rising to an unrevised 5.7 during October. The latest was the lowest level since [...]

With the passage of Hurricane Sandy, initial claims for unemployment insurance surged. The Department of Labor indicated that gains in several states caused initial claims for unemployment insurance to jump to 439,000 in the week [...]

Consumer price inflation eased last month. The overall consumer price index ticked up an expected 0.1% (2.2% y/y) following two successive 0.6% increases. The easing was due to a 0.2% (4.0% y/y) decline in energy prices following two [...]

Gasoline prices are being helped lower by reduced seasonal pressure. Last week, the pump price for a gallon of regular gasoline fell another four cents (+0.4%) to $3.45 per gallon. Since their September peak prices have fallen 43 [...]

Business inventories rose 0.7% following a 0.6% August rise. Quickened accumulation during the last three months reflected the gains in merchant wholesalers inventories driven by a 5.5% surge (11.9% y/y) in petroleum inventories. [...]

e-Zone manufacturing output fell by 2.6% in September, a sharper drop than had been expected. The drop comes after two months of increasing by 0.9% in each of them. Still IP in the zone is falling at a 3.6% annual rate over three [...]

The producer price index for finished goods fell 0.2% last month. The decline followed four months of increase and contrasted with expectations for a 0.2% rise. Excluding food & energy prices also fell 0.2% versus expectations for a [...]