Economy in Brief

In contrast to last week's report of a decline in German new orders for manufacturing, France, today, reported an increase in new orders for manufacturing from 91.1 (2005=100) in June to 92.7 in July. The level of French new orders is [...]

The only momentum behind the housing market is its penchant for crawling along at a low level. The National Association of Home Builders reported that their index of housing market activity remained low at 13 which was just above the [...]

Credit market borrowing grew $567 billion, seasonally adjusted annual rate, in Q2, stronger than the $498 billion amount in Q1. That figure, in turn, reflects a sizable revision of the tiny $10.3 billion paydown initially reported. [...]

The PPI facts of life: The PPI was subdued in August rising by just 0.1%. This comes after several months of elevation. The elevation, however, was not shared by the core which instead has bumped up in August after being low and [...]

In a renewed statement of discouragement, consumer sentiment fell again early in September. The University of Michigan reported that its mid-month reading reversed last month's uptick and fell to 66.6 which was the lowest level since [...]

Higher prices for energy products continued to lift overall consumer price inflation. A 0.3% increase in the August CPI (1.2% y/y) repeated the July performance. That news, however, is where the story of any strength in U.S. pricing [...]

It's of little solace that the latest General Activity Index in the Philadelphia Fed's September Business Outlook Survey bounced up. The reading improved this month to -0.7 from -7.7 in August, but that remained only the second [...]

The U.S. current account deficit widened in Q2 to $123.3 billion from a revised $109.2 billion in Q1; this result was very close to consensus expectations for $123.9 billion. The Q2 ratio to GDP is 3.4%, up from 3.0% in Q1. The [...]