Economy in Brief: 2008

Total business inventory accumulation continued to moderate and rose 0.4% during November. The three month change in inventories of 3.9 (AR) is less than half the rate of accumulation in mid-2006. Retail inventories fell 0.1% as [...]

Finished producer prices retreated 0.1% last month after the 3.2% surge during November. The decline compared with an expectation for a 0.2% gain. A 0.2% gain in core producer prices matched expectations. Energy prices fell 1.9% [...]

U.S. retail sales fell 0.4% last month and missed expectations for no change. November's gain was revised down slightly to 1.0% and the October figure also was revised down slightly to no change. Excluding autos sales similarly fell [...]

U.S. retail sales fell 0.4% last month and missed expectations for no change. November's gain was revised down slightly to 1.0% and the October figure also was revised down slightly to no change. Excluding autos sales similarly fell [...]

In recent months, the British Pound has taken a sharp fall. From its peak of 102.89 (January, 2005 = 100) in early November, the Broad Effective Exchange rate of the British pound had declined 7.6% by last Friday. By contrast, during [...]

Industrial output is dropping in November and more than offsetting the rise in October that followed another drop in September. The chart shows that while industrial output trends are ragged across sectors they are also losing [...]

The U.S. government ran a budget surplus this past December of $48.261B, about the same as during December of 2006. These two figures were improved from the December deficits of the prior two years. For the first three months of FY08, [...]

The U.S. government ran a budget surplus this past December of $48.261B, about the same as during December of 2006. These two figures were improved from the December deficits of the prior two years. For the first three months of FY08, [...]