Economy in Brief

Flash Estimates of second quarter gross domestic product in the European Union and the Euro Area were released today and can be found in the data base, EUDATA. Both areas are expected to experience declines of 0.2% in the second [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index slipped in July to 91.2 after an unrevised skid to 91.4 in June. The latest level remained the lowest since October. The percentage of [...]

The Euro crisis has led to a good deal of upward pressure on currencies outside the Euro Area. Euro Area citizens have rushed to exchange their Euros for currencies considered to be safe havens, notably the United States dollar, the [...]

The pump price of regular gasoline added another eight cents last week to its fourteen cent gain during the prior period. At $3.72 per gallon prices recently have risen 36 cents (10.9%) to the highest since the middle of May. Haver [...]

The producer price index for finished goods rose 0.3% last month after a 0.1% June uptick. The gain beat expectations for a 0.2% rise. Excluding food & energy, prices gained 0.4% (2.6% y/y), the strongest rise since January. A 0.2% [...]

Finally the consumer grew tired of not spending and July retail sales rose 0.8%. The gain followed a deepened 0.7% June drop and a downwardly revised 0.1% May dip. A 0.3% increase in July sales was expected according to Action [...]

Weakening industrial economies have been accompanied by mixed pricing patterns in commodities. At 162.5, the latest price index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) is 5.2% lower than its April [...]

During July, the Federal Government ran a budget deficit of $69.6B, according to figures released by the U.S. Treasury. So far this fiscal year the deficit totaled $973.84B, down from $1,100.0B during the first ten months of FY'11. As [...]