Economy in Brief: 2019

Total retail sales increased 0.3% (3.1% y/y) during October following an unrevised 0.3% September decline. A 0.2% October gain had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Retail sales excluding motor vehicles & parts [...]

The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions edged down to 2.9 in November from 4.0 in October. An increase to 5.0 had been expected by the Action Economics Forecast Survey. This means that activity continued to [...]

Import prices fell a greater-than-expected 0.5% during October (-3.0% year-on-year), following a downwardly revised 0.1% gain in September (was 0.2%). The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected a 0.4% decline in October. These [...]

Initial applications for unemployment insurance fell to 211,000 (-4.3% y/y) during the week ended November 2.......... Continuing claims for unemployment insurance slipped to 1.689 million during the week ended October 26.......... In [...]

GDP in the euro area and for most members finalized for the third quarter. Three members out of eight saw weaker growth quarter-to-quarter. While four saw GDP’s year-on-year growth decelerate. Rounded to one decimal place, growth in [...]

The Producer Price Index for final demand rose 0.4% during October (1.1% y/y) and reversed the 0.3% September decline. A 0.3% gain had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Producer prices excluding food & energy rose [...]

Initial applications for unemployment insurance rose to 225,000 (+0.3% y/y) during the week ended November 9 from 211,000 in the prior week, which was unrevised. The latest week is hardly a large number, but it is the highest since [...]

The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the federal government ran a $134.5 billion budget deficit during October compared to a $100.5 billion deficit twelve months earlier. Budget receipts fell 2.8% y/y while outlays rose 7.6% [...]