Economy in Brief

The economic recession may be restraining pricing power generally, but not last month. The PPI for finished goods jumped 1.8% after a 0.2% uptick during May. Consensus expectations had been for a 0.9% increase. The real news, however, [...]

Weak job growth and rising gasoline prices continued last month to constrain consumer spending. A 0.6% increase in June retail sales was near expectations and followed a little-revised 0.5% gain during May. However, except for a rise [...]

The U.S. government ran a budget deficit of $94.3 billion last month pulling the deficit during the first nine months of this fiscal year to $1.1 trillion. That compares to a deficit of $286 billion during the first nine months of [...]

The U.S. government ran a budget deficit of $94.3 billion last month pulling the deficit during the first nine months of this fiscal year to $1.1 trillion. That compares to a deficit of $286 billion during the first nine months of [...]

Japan’s consumer confidence is at a year and one half high. The government has upgraded its economic assessment for the third month in a row. Industrial output is on a tear. IP is up for three months in a row. The past two month’s [...]

Until the current recession started, the U.S. level of foreign trade (exports PLUS imports) was rising sharply with the expansion of the worldwide economy. As a percentage of overall U.S. economic activity, trade was just shy of 30% [...]

Until the current recession started, the U.S. level of foreign trade (exports PLUS imports) was rising sharply with the expansion of the worldwide economy. As a percentage of overall U.S. economic activity, trade was just shy of 30% [...]

Worries about the prospects for the economy and its current position dropped the University of Michigan's July reading of consumer sentiment. The mid-July overall figure fell to 64.6 which was its lowest level since March. Consensus [...]