Economy in Brief

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that its Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions improved further to 15.43, the highest since June of last year. The figure roughly equaled Consensus expectations for [...]

U.S. import prices showed broad-based strength. During January, prices jumped another 1.5% after an upwardly revised 1.2% December increase, initially reported as 1.1%. The increase was stronger than Consensus expectations for a 0.8% [...]

January consumer spending lost forward momentum. Retail and food service sales rose 0.3% last month after a 0.5% December increase that was revised from 0.6%. Sales have risen for seven consecutive months; however, the latest was the [...]

China reported a trade surplus of $6.5 billion for January, a decline of $6.6 billion from December, 2010 and $7.7 billion below January of a year ago. The decline from December was the result of 2.2% decline in exports and a 2.3% [...]

The US economy and the OECD remain on roughly the same path. The trend restored leading indicators from the OECD show that from 2008 onward, there has been a severe down-phase, and a strong up-phase that has since played out and now a [...]

Consumer price inflation has been under control of late with both the overall CPI (1.4%) and the core inflation rate (0.6%) at their lowest since the mid-1960s. A popular harbinger of inflation, however, is the price of gold and it is [...]

The improved job market coupled with low prices seem to be buoying consumers' spirits. The mid-February reading of consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan rose to 75.1 and more-than recovered its January decline to an [...]

The U.S. foreign trade deficit deepened during December to $40.6B versus a little-revised $38.3B in November $38.3B. Consensus expectations had been for $40.0B. For the full year, the deficit deepened to $497.8B. Exports gained 1.8% [...]