Economy in Brief

Export and import growth trends in France continue to wither at very rapid rates. In February exports rose as imports fell by 0.2%. Still both exports and imports are dropping at better than a 33% annual rate over three months. The [...]

The recent recovery in consumer expenditures stuttered last month. March retail sales fell 1.1% after a 0.3% February increase that was revised up slightly. Some of that stutter reflected less money spent on gasoline but it [...]

The recent recovery in consumer expenditures stuttered last month. March retail sales fell 1.1% after a 0.3% February increase that was revised up slightly. Some of that stutter reflected less money spent on gasoline but it [...]

China is one of the earliest countries to report March trade data. On a seasonally unadjusted basis exports were up 39.1% in March after falling for five successive months. Exports are still 17% below the year ago figure, but that is [...]

The OECD trend restored leading indicators show that a very deep recession is underway. The declines in the LEIs over 6-months are the most severe of the modern post-war period. The LEI declines are sharper than in either of the two [...]

War in the Mideast, recession at home and TARP lifted the U.S. government's budget deficit to nearly $1 trillion during just the first half of this fiscal year. For all of FY09, the Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that [...]

War in the Mideast, recession at home and TARP lifted the U.S. government's budget deficit to nearly $1 trillion during just the first half of this fiscal year. For all of FY09, the Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that [...]

Though they may be topping, initial claims for unemployment insurance certainly remain high. At 654,000 last week that was down from an upwardly revised 675,000 during the prior week. However, the level was up 82.7% from one year ago. [...]