Economy in Brief

The downtrend continues. Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell 27,000 last week to 451,000 from an upwardly revised 478,000 in the week prior (originally 472,000). Claims remained the lowest in nine weeks, just before Census- [...]

Debt remains a bad word in consumers' dictionary. As such, they want less of it. Federal Reserve figures released yesterday indicate that consumer credit outstanding fell $3.6B during July following declines during the prior two [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the latest reading of labor market conditions improved modestly. The Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) indicated that the job openings rate during July ticked up to 2.3% [...]

Consumers are pulling back from their easier-spending ways early this summer. Weekly chain store sales fell 0.4% last week leaving the level at its lowest since the end of June. During the last ten years there has been a 68% [...]

The soft U.S. economy has done nothing to help oil & gas prices. The pump price for regular gasoline held steady last week at $2.68 per gallon, the lowest since February and down from $2.91 in early-May. Nevertheless, prices remained [...]

IP makes lethargic rebound - German IP is up in July after a drop of 0.6% in June. That means IP is lower on balance over two months. July was not much of a 'bounce.' The weakness in IP corresponds with the drop in orders whose [...]

The value of Germany's new orders fell 2.6% in July from June, the first month to month decline since December of last year. The decline was due entirely to a decline in foreign orders as domestic new orders held steady. Total export [...]

German orders rolled over in July after a string of strong gains that extend back to about January. The German orders recovery dates from March of 2009 and from that point there have been only four monthly declines in orders of which [...]