Economy in Brief

January's U.S. foreign trade deficit narrowed again to its shallowest level since the summer of 2002. The deficit of $36.0B narrowed from the unrevised December figure of $39.0B. Lower oil prices and the U.S. recession acted to reduce [...]

For the year as a whole, total credit market borrowing grew just 5.5% which was the weakest advance since 1993. And all sectors pulled back their borrowing -- except the Federal government whose liabilities grew at a 24.2% rate, [...]

Reduced inventory accumulation has played a large role in the current downturn in economic activity. Business inventories dropped 1.1% m/m during January and the decline marked the fifth consecutive reduction. Over just the last three [...]

Among large EU economies that have reported results, Germany shows the fastest dropping industrial production over three-months as well as in the quarter-to-date. Its 8.1% plunge in MFG IP is right in line with the reported 8% drop in [...]

The U.S. job market continues to worsen. Continuing claims for unemployment insurance reached another record level as they jumped by 193,000. At 5,317,000, the level of continuing claims was nearly double that of last March. The [...]

Consumer spending firmed in the last two months following the notably soft performance during the second half of last year. During February, retail sales excluding autos & gasoline rose 0.5% after a 1.4% January increase which was [...]

Consumer spending firmed in the last two months following the notably soft performance during the second half of last year. During February, retail sales excluding autos & gasoline rose 0.5% after a 1.4% January increase which was [...]

In the UK both export and import flows are losing momentum fast. Weak exports tell a tale of weakening growth in UK export markets. Dropping imports tell of still weakening domestic demand. Both series are quite weak and have a record [...]