Economy in Brief

The Federal Reserve quarterly Flow-of-Funds data show some easing in credit market borrowing in Q3, at $887 billion, seasonally adjusted annual rate, down from $1,166 billion in Q2, $1,415 billion in Q1 and an average of $929 billion [...]

The Federal Reserve quarterly Flow-of-Funds data show some easing in credit market borrowing in Q3, at $887 billion, seasonally adjusted annual rate, down from $1,166 billion in Q2, $1,415 billion in Q1 and an average of $929 billion [...]

German orders recorded a sharp snap back in October, rising by 3.9% after falling by 2.4% in September, The jump still leaves overall orders lower by 2% year-on-year but the profile is now sharply different with foreign-sourced orders [...]

The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that 57,081 job cuts were announced during November, up 19.6% from October and by more than one-third y/y. Job cut announcements rose in the aerospace/defense, apparel, [...]

Initial jobless insurance claims fell again last week after filings were raised sharply in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Claims fell during the week ended December 1 to 370,000 from 395,000 in the prior period, initially reported as [...]

Orders in the factory sector are still rising, but the slower trend rate of growth mirrors other indications of slowing activity in manufacturing. Factory sector orders in October rose 0.8% following a 4.5% September gain. The [...]

Nonfarm business sector productivity for Q3'12 was revised up to 2.9% (1.7% y/y) from last month's estimate of a 1.9% gain which matched the Q2 rise. Growth was its fastest in two years. The latest increase reflected a 4.2% (3.5% y/y) [...]

Among the original EMU members reporting service sector PMI details, Ireland and Italy were the only reporters with slippage posted in November. The overall EMU reading advanced to 46.74 from 46.04 a metric still pointing to declines [...]