Economy in Brief

U.S. industrial production rose 0.9% last month following a 0.4% June gain, revised from 0.2%. The latest increase beat Consensus expectations for a 0.4% increase according to Action Economics. Factory sector output gained 0.7% as [...]

Overall U.S. import prices nudged up 0.3% last month following a little-revised 0.6% June decline. Consensus expectations had been for a 0.1% slip. Year-to-year, the lower value of the U.S. dollar as well higher oil prices have raised [...]

Slack demand and earlier overbuilding continue to pressure new home construction. Housing starts fell 1.5% last month to 604,000 (AR) after a downwardly revised 10.8% June gain, initially reported as 14.6%. Expectations had been for [...]

Although Japanese Gross Domestic Product declined at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.3% in the second quarter, the decline was less than expected. Government expenditures on consumption and investment were positive factors and [...]

The National Association of Home Builders reported that its August index of housing market activity held m/m at 15. Though the latest figure remained above the all-time low of 8 reached in January of 2009, it was at the low end of the [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that its Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions fell to -7.72 in August and reversed last month's improvement. The number was weaker than Consensus expectations for [...]

There is no complicated story here nor any real caveats. The Yr/Yr EMU IP aggregates by sector are slowing: intermediate goods, consumer goods, capital goods. In the just completed Q2 period (Q-2-Date, in the table) Euro-Area IP has [...]

The U.S. Commerce Department reported that business inventory growth slowed in June to 0.3% from 0.9% in May (revised from 1.0%). Business sales increased 0.4% in June, turning back higher following a 0.1% decrease in May. With the [...]