Economy in Brief: 2017

The euro area trade surplus jumped sharply in September, reaching its maximum surplus since the euro area was formed at 25.044 billion euros. The EMU current account surplus as a percentage of GDP reached 2.67% in Q2, the most recent [...]

Total business inventories held steady (3.5% y/y) in September following a little-revised 0.6% August rise. Retail inventories declined 0.9% (+2.2% y/y) led by a 2.4% fall (+4.0% y/y) in motor vehicle inventories. Outside of the auto [...]

The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions for November fell to 19.4 following its unrevised improvement to 30.2 during October. The latest level was the lowest since July, but continued to indicate expansion [...]

The Consumer Price Index edged up 0.1% m/m (2.0% y/y) in October, exactly in line with the market's expectation from the Action Economics survey. The overall index had jumped a much larger-than-expected 0.5% m/m in September. The core [...]

Total retail sales and spending at restaurants edged 0.2% higher (4.6% y/y) during October following a 1.9% September jump, revised from 1.6%. A 0.1% uptick had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Much of the [...]

Retail gasoline prices rose three cents last week to $2.59 per gallon (18.7% y/y). It was the highest level in seven weeks, but still below the early-September high of $2.69 per gallon. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index rose to 103.8 during October following a September decline to 103.0. The figure remained below its January high of 105.9, but increased [...]

The headline Final Demand Producer Price Index using new methodology increased 0.4% during October, the same as in September. These remain the strongest gains since April and pulled the y/y rise to 2.8%, the strongest since February [...]