Economy in Brief

U.S. import prices rose 0.4% (5.5% y/y) last month after a revised no change during January, initially pegged as 0.3%. A 0.6% February rise had been expected. Year-to-year, higher oil prices and the lower value of the dollar raised [...]

As expected, the Federal Open Market Committee today left the Federal funds rate in a "range from 0 to 1/4 percent." The Fed funds rate has remained unchanged since late-2008 at its lowest level ever. The discount rate also was left [...]

Regular gasoline prices rose another four cents last week to $3.83 per gallon. Reduced seasonal demand typically fosters lower gasoline prices this time of year, and they haven't followed the norm. Haver Analytics' seasonally-adjusted [...]

The 285 German investors and analysts who participated in the March ZEW survey saw a slight deterioration of 2.7percentage points in their appraisal of current conditions from, an excess of optimists of 40.3% to one of 37.6%; but they [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business indicated that its February index of small business optimism was 94.3 versus 93.9 in January. The latest was the highest in a year and the best since December 2007. The percentage of [...]

Recent labor market improvement hesitated as indicated by the slip in the January job openings rate. The figure slipped to 2.5% from the recovery's high of 2.6%. The figures in the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings & Labor [...]

Retail sales jumped 1.1% (6.5% y/y) during February following upwardly revised gains of 0.6% and 0.3% during the prior two months. The improvement about matched Consensus expectations for a 1.1% rise according to Action Economics. The [...]

Retail sales jumped 1.1% (6.5% y/y) during February following upwardly revised gains of 0.6% and 0.3% during the prior two months. The improvement about matched Consensus expectations for a 1.1% rise according to Action Economics. The [...]