Economy in Brief

U.S. producer prices for finished goods rose 0.3% last month following their 1.2% downdraft during March. The latest rise outpaced Consensus expectations for a 0.1% uptick. It did not, however, represent a broad-based firming of the [...]

A stutter-step was taken by the U.S. job market last week. Initial claims for unemployment insurance increased 32,000 to 637,000 and that recovered all of the prior week's decline. Nevertheless, claims remained down sharply from their [...]

A stutter-step was taken by the U.S. job market last week. Initial claims for unemployment insurance increased 32,000 to 637,000 and that recovered all of the prior week's decline. Nevertheless, claims remained down sharply from their [...]

Total business inventories fell another 1.0% during March, down for the seventh straight month. These declines have given rise to a three-month decumulation rate of 13.5%. That is the strongest in the series' history which dates back [...]

Euro Area manufacturing output fell by 2.1% in March. The 21.2% drop Yr/Yr exceeds the 20.2% drop posted in February. The sequential growth rate rates seem to have stabilized at a very torrid pace of decline just under 30% at an [...]

U.S. retail sales continued to struggle last month following the recovery earlier this year. In fact, virtually all of that recovery has been erased by the latest declines. April retail sales declined by 0.4% following their 1.3% [...]

U.S. retail sales continued to struggle last month following the recovery earlier this year. In fact, virtually all of that recovery has been erased by the latest declines. April retail sales declined by 0.4% following their 1.3% [...]

According to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), small business optimism recovered sharply last month. The index level of 86.8 was its highest level since last November. However, despite the increase business were [...]