Economy in Brief: 2011

Chain stores sales rose 0.7% last week and reversed the prior week's decline. For the last six weeks, sales have moved sideways and have fallen 3.6% below the July peak. During the last ten years there has been a 66% correlation [...]

The modest improvement in the U.S. economy has helped slow the earlier decline in petroleum prices. The pump price for regular gasoline slipped one penny last week to $3.45 per gallon but was two cents higher than early-October. [...]

After three quarters of declines in GDP, an increase looks likely for Japan in the fourth quarter. Recovery is proceeding from the March Earthquake and Tsunami. Although industrial production fell by almost 4% in September from [...]

Factory sector activity around Chicago developed less forward momentum this month. The Purchasing Mangers Association of Chicago indicated in its October Business Survey that the Business Barometer Index fell somewhat to 58.4 from [...]

The chart shows that one big difference between the US and the European rates of unemployment is that Europe has ‘always’ had a rate ‘this high’ and the US has not. The table below tells another unfortunate tale, this one much [...]

The University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment for all of October increased to 60.9. That's versus its mid-October reading of 57.5 and 59.4 for September. Consumers' expectations reading rose to its highest since July but [...]

The employment cost index for private industry workers rose 0.4% in Q3 for total compensation versus an unrevised 0.8% Q2 jump. The Q3 increase fell short of expectations for a 0.6% rise as compiled by Bloomberg. The four-quarter gain [...]

The personal savings rate has been falling since its 2008 monthly peak of 8.3%. However, the latest leg down to 3.6% highlights a marked acceleration in the rate of decline. Despite a sharp deterioration in income growth, consumers [...]