Economy in Brief

Inventories at the wholesale level jumped 1.0% (10.0% y/y) during December following no change in November. For all of last year inventories rose 10.0% following an 11.1% gain during 2010. Higher inventories of apparel (17.5% y/y), [...]

The chart puts a good perspective on the turn up in UK yearend IP...nothing special. The rise in December is sharp and does pull IP out of a deepening nose dive of Yr/Yr growth rates headed below zero. But as we often like to remind [...]

Signs of labor market improvement continue to be evident. Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 358,000 last week. The decline was from 373,000 during the week prior (revised from 367,000) and compared to Consensus [...]

German exports and imports are locked in clear withering trends. The trends in the table all show a loss in momentum and a number of trends show negative growth has emerged not just slower positive growth. Germany is a very trade- [...]

The index of total mortgage applications rose 7.5% last week to 810.0 (March 16, 1990 = 100), nearly the highest since late 2010. The rise followed two weeks of moderate decline. Continuing to take advantage of low interest rates, [...]

Recent increases in consumers' sense of well-being have encouraged them to make more liberal use of credit. Reported late yesterday, consumer credit outstanding jumped another $19.3B during December after an unrevised $20.4B November [...]

The German IG Metall Union announced today that it would seek a 6.5% wage rise for its members for the coming year beginning April 1st. While a 6.5% wage increase seems unrealistic in the face of a slowing economy, it should be noted [...]

Another sign of economic improvement came in today's report that the December job openings rate improved to 2.5%, the recovery's high, after two months of decline. The Bureau of Labor Statistics figures are in its Job Openings & Labor [...]