Economy in Brief

Chile, Latvia, and Pakistan reported their inflation rates for January today. The year to year change in the Consumer Price Index--the most common measure of inflation--was 2.73% for Chile, 3.66% for Latvia and 14.19% for Pakistan.The [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that the December job openings rate slipped to 2.3% from an upwardly revised 2.4% during November. For the full year the job opening rate [...]

Small business confidence is on the mend. The National Federation of Independent Business indicated that their index of small business optimism rose to 94.1 in January from 92.6 in December. The latest was the highest level since [...]

Growth in German orders fell sharply in December but there is still a strong yr/yr gain and still a strong push over three months. The December drop merely offsets part of the November surge when orders exploded by 5.2% in the month. [...]

Indonesia is the sixth Pacific Rim country to report an increase in its rate of growth in the fourth quarter of 2010. The other countries are China, Singapore, the Philippines, Korea and Vietnam. The quarterly year to year growth [...]

What started tentatively last year has turned into somewhat of a rout in the U.S. credit market. While short-term rates have barely budged, long-term rates have risen substantially as recent data suggest the economic recovery is [...]

Record snowfalls depressed hiring last month. Nonfarm payrolls increased just 36,000 last month after upwardly revised gains of 121,000 in December and 93,000 in November. Nevertheless, the rise disappointed Consensus forecasts for a [...]

Retail sales in the Zone fell by 0.6% in December. They are lower over 12-months by 1% as well. German sales are lower Yr/Yr and UK sales are flat. Nonfood retail sales fell in December and are lower by 1.3% Yr/Yr in the Zone. The [...]