Economy in Brief

New orders for durable goods rose a surprising 3.4% last month after a revised 7.3% January decline that was deeper than reported initially. Despite the latest increase, new orders have fallen by roughly one quarter since the middle [...]

The manufacturing and Services indices from Markit show that Euro Area PMIs have risen form the bottoms in this cycle. The moves are small and the included chart demonstrates that the move is without much vigor. The services sector is [...]

UK inflation spurted in February quite unexpectedly. As the table shows, the month-to-month acceleration is quite widespread. UK core inflation continues to hover below the key 2% level, although it has ticked up this month too. [...]

Confidence among French manufacturers in March remained at the all time low of 68 recorded in February, as can be seen in the first chart that shows the historical record of the series. (INSEE, the National Institute of Statistics and [...]

February chain store sales may belatedly have benefited as Christmas gift cards were cashed in. Now, however the effects of higher unemployment seem to have taken hold. Store sales fell in three of the last four weeks and the decline [...]

The potential for OPEC restraint in crude oil production recently helped to lift prices for crude oil. For a barrel of West Texas Intermediate prices rose last week to $49.46, up roughly 50% from the December low of $32.37 per barrel. [...]

The potential for OPEC restraint in crude oil production recently helped to lift prices for crude oil. For a barrel of West Texas Intermediate prices rose last week to $49.46, up roughly 50% from the December low of $32.37 per barrel. [...]

World trade began to decelerate early in 2008 reflecting the impact of the world wide slow down, but did not actually decline until November, the latest data available in Haver's IFS (International Monetary Fund Data) database. As [...]