Economy in Brief: January 2012

China's trade balance declined by $29,544 million from $177,819 in 2010 to $148.275 in 2011. The trend in the trade surplus has been slightly downwards since global trade recovered after the financial crisis of 2008. Imports into [...]

House price weakness intensified during November. The seasonally adjusted Case-Shiller 20-City Home Price Index dropped 1.3% after a like decline in October, initially reported as -0.6%. Among the 20 cities, only three, Phoenix, [...]

The Conference Board's Index of Consumer Confidence fell during January by 3.7 points to 61.1 (seasonally adjusted, 1985=100) after notable increases during the prior two months. The latest decline disappointed Consensus estimates for [...]

The Conference Board's Index of Consumer Confidence gained again for December, adding 9.3 points to 64.5 (seasonally adjusted, 1985=100) and suggesting that November's 14.3-point surge was not a fluke. Consensus estimates had looked [...]

Labor compensation is growing at a steady rate. The employment cost index for private industry workers rose 0.4% in Q4 for total compensation versus an unrevised 0.4% Q2 rise. The Q4 increase fell short of expectations for a 0.4% rise [...]

The EU commission indices provide some perspective on Europe’s unraveling and embattled economy. For now the relentless erosion has abated but pressure remains and adverse dynamics are still in force. The overall EU index rose this [...]

Last year ended with Japan reporting its first calendar year deficit on trade in goods since 1980.(See the first Chart.) Trade was distorted by a severe earthquake and tsunami in March. Plants and equipment were destroyed and [...]

Intuit compiles data covering small business employment and 2012 started with a weak gain. For January, its employment index rose 0.2% to 96.14. The index has been rising for just over two years but this month's gain was the weakest [...]