Economy in Brief: 2019

Wholesale inventories fell 0.4% during September (+4.8% y/y) following a 0.1% August gain, revised from 0.2%. A 0.3% decline had been expected in the Informa Global Markets Survey. Durable goods inventories eased 0.1% (+6.9% y/y) in [...]

The weakening in September retail sales reported last month was very much in evidence in today's consumer credit report. Consumer Credit Outstanding increased $9.52 billion (4.9% y/y) during September following a $17.83 billion August [...]

On the face of it, September was not a good month for German industrial production. Output fell by 0.6% overall, it fell by 0.5% for consumer goods, it fell by 1.5% for capital goods and it fell by 1.3% for intermediate goods. But [...]

Initial applications for unemployment insurance fell to 211,000 (-4.3% y/y) during the week ended November 2 from 219,000 in the prior week, revised from 218,000. It was the lowest number of claims in four weeks. The Action Economics [...]

Both German orders and the EU Commission's PMI gauges for the EMU show a modest upturn in their recent releases. Both fared slightly better than expected. Both are still significantly weak; the sense of overachievement will not merit [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its Mortgage Loan Index slipped 0.1% (+58.5% y/y) in the week ending November 1 after rising 0.6% w/w in the previous week. Purchase applications fell 2.5% w/w (+6.6% y/y) and reversed [...]

Productivity in the nonfarm business sector eased 0.3% at an annual rate (+1.4% y/y) during Q3'19 following a 2.5% Q2 rise, revised from 2.3%. It was the first decline in productivity since Q4'15. Expectations had been for a 0.9% rise [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services declined to $52.45 billion in September from a little-revised 55.04 billion in August. A $52.5 billion deficit had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Exports eased 0.9% [...]