Economy in Brief: 2012

Nonfarm payrolls grew 171,000 during October following revised gains of 148,000 and 192,000 during the prior two months, earlier reported as 114,000 and 142,000, respectively. A 121,000 increase was expected. Moderate job gains [...]

Light vehicle sales were under pressure last month. Unit sales of light motor vehicles during October fell 4.4% m/m (+7.2% y/y) to 14.29M (SAAR) according to the Autodata Corporation. The latest figure disappointed the Consensus [...]

The manufacturing sector continues on the mend, albeit slowly. The Institute for Supply Management reported that its composite index ticked up to 51.7 in October versus an unrevised 51.5 in September. The figure beat expectations for [...]

The Conference Board consumer confidence measure rose sharply to 72.2 in Oct from 68.4 in Sept. it was last higher in Feb 2008. The present situation is better in Oct too, rising to 56.2 from 48.7 it was last higher in Sept 2008. [...]

An expanded employment survey sample for the Automatic Data Processing (ADP) payroll gauge shows a net gain in private payrolls of 158,000 jobs for October. This is stronger than the new ADP survey reading in September of 113,000 and [...]

Disposable personal income grew 0.4% during September, the most in six months and a pickup from the negligible 0.1% August uptick. However, adjusted for price inflation, disposable personal income slipped marginally (+1.9% y/y) after [...]

By comparison with Italy, France and the UK, German consumers are feeling pretty good. Expectations are beginning to falter. But climate continues to show some very gradual improvement. German confidence in is the top 17% of its [...]

The University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment for October increased to 82.6 from an unrevised 78.3 in September. The reading at mid-month was 83.1. The latest number was the highest since September 2007 and expectations [...]