Economy in Brief

Consumer spending overall is holding up but shopping at chain stores is barely treading water. Sales last week rose a healthy 2.1% to their highest level since early-May. The increase, however, left the June average down slightly from [...]

Home prices improved during April. Seasonally adjusted, the Case-Shiller Home Price Index inched up 0.4% from March after two months of slight decline. However, home prices remain depressed and have fallen 29.1% since the May 2006 [...]

Government spending program had been underpinning Japan retail sales until this month when sales fell sharply. The month-to-month drop was the first since December 2009 and the largest since February 2005. It was the smallest Yr/Yr [...]

The Bank of New Zealand reported a decline in overall business confidence today. The Bank surveys firms engaged in retail, manufacturing, agriculture, construction and the service industries and publishes the results for each industry [...]

The U.S. economy is continuing its improvement. At a reading of 0.21, the National Activity Index (CFNAI) reported by the Chicago Fed held near its earlier levels which were upwardly revised. The latest was near the highest since 2006 [...]

Despite what was a disappointing May jobs number, personal income growth remained firm. May income rose 0.4% after an upwardly-revised 0.5% April gain. A 0.5% increase had been expected. Last month's increase reflected a stable 0.5% [...]

For the second time, 1Q '10 real GDP growth was revised slightly lower. The latest 2.7% figure compares to 3.0% estimated last month and 3.2% in the advance report. A lessened rate of growth in domestic final demand was behind the [...]

Consumer sentiment as reported by The University of Michigan improved even more this month than indicated by the mid-June measure. The final figure rose to 76.0, its highest level since January 2008. Since its low late in 2008 the [...]