Economy in Brief

The chart shows the weakening trends in the level of the EMU MFG PMI and the UK PMI. The UK is falling off sharply over the past few months but the drop this month was the sharpest in Germany and in Ireland. The Greece, the UK and [...]

Intuit compiles data covering small business employment and the figures indicate that jobs have been improving with the economic recovery. The 0.2% m/m gain in the May Employment Index was similar to gains since last Fall. The gains [...]

These are confusing times for energy prices -- gasoline is down with the weak economy and less driving, but crude oil and natural gas are up. Last week, the pump price for regular gasoline fell to $3.79 per gallon though it remained [...]

In its latest National Employment Report, the payroll processor Automatic Data Processing (ADP) and economic consultants Macroeconomic Advisers, indicated that the May level of private nonfarm payrolls rose just 38,000 after a 177,000 [...]

German retail sales have been through a bit of a recovery boom and bust phase and unfortunately they are now digging out of a ‘bust phase’ and not doing so with much vigor. Just last week the Bundesbank said that the German economy [...]

New Zealand businessmen have recovered most of the confidence they lost in March as a result of the February Earthquake in Christ Church. According to the National Bank of New Zealand's business confidence survey, the optimists on the [...]

Concern about future business conditions is the big worry on consumers' minds this month. The Conference Board reported that its May consumer confidence index fell 7.9% from April to 60.8, the lowest level since November. The latest [...]

Home prices have been seesawing, giving back all of the support created by last year's home-buyer tax credit. The seasonally adjusted Case-Shiller 20-City Home Price Index fell 0.2% m/m in March after an unrevised 0.2% February drop. [...]