Economy in Brief

Businesses during September continued their earlier effort to lift inventories. The 0.9% rise in inventories followed a like August gain which was revised up from 0.6%. The increases confirm the 1.4 percentage point contribution to [...]

The consumer indicated that despite a generally cautious mood, wallets were opened last month. Retail spending rose 1.2% during October following a 0.7% increase that was revised from 0.6%. The last was higher than expectations for a [...]

Biz Cycle mechanics 101 - Trees do not growth to the sky and GDP growth does accelerate endlessly, even in recovery. But in EMU all the key larger early-reporting countries reported a deceleration in GDP growth in Q3 compared to Q2 [...]

Consumer sentiment has barely improved since mid-year. The University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment reported that its mid-month measure for November inched up from October to 69.3 after four months of being roughly [...]

After looking at the table below, it's easy to see price strength. The price of gold hit $1,400 per ounce in November, pulling it up nearly one-quarter this year after a like gain in 2009. Silver prices also have been strong. Their [...]

Japan machinery orders, both 'core' orders and total orders, are showing some progress. Granted both series fell sharply in September but each had risen strongly in August. Beneath all that noise - very loud noise - is a hint, a vague [...]

The recent volatility of oil prices has dominated the monthly ups and downs of U.S. import prices. During October there was a clear upward influence as there has been through this year. Import prices jumped 0.9% last month following a [...]

This latest figure covering labor market conditions indicates improvement after last week's deterioration. Initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped sharply last week to 435,000, the lowest level since early-July. That [...]