Economy in Brief

The National Federation of Independent Business indicated that its October Index of Small Business Optimism improved to 93.1 from 92.9 in September. While the figure was well above the recession low, it remained depressed versus past [...]

Who says it can't get any worse? President Francois Hollande has been met with an economy that has done progressively worse after he took office. While he has clamped an oppressive income tax (75%!) on the rich, he has not been able [...]

The University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment for mid-November jumped to 84.9 (33.3% y/y) from an unrevised 82.6 in October. The latest figure was the highest since July 2007 and beat expectations for 83.0. During the last [...]

Higher petroleum costs raised U.S. import prices by another 1.5% last month following an unrevised 1.1% September increase. Higher petroleum prices led the rise with a strong 1.3% gain (1.9% y/y). The Action Economics survey looked [...]

Higher petroleum costs raised U.S. import prices by another 1.5% last month following an unrevised 1.1% September increase. Higher petroleum prices led the rise with a strong 1.3% gain (1.9% y/y). The Action Economics survey looked [...]

The U.S. foreign trade deficit eased to $41.5B in September from $43.8B in August, revised from $44.1B. This was noticeably better than the Action Economics consensus forecast increase to $45.0B. This was also the most favorable [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday in its Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that the September job openings rate slipped to 2.6% from a revised 2.7%. It still was improved versus the recession low of 1.6%. The [...]

Hurricane Sandy closed offices and created power shortages that left individuals unable to file claims for unemployment insurance. Initial jobless insurance claims fell to 355,000 in the week ended November 3 from 363,000 the week [...]