Economy in Brief

Japan’s own leading index composite is demonstrating ongoing weakness. The OECD’s take is that there is an improvement afoot. Japan’s own index peaked in the first half of 2006 and has since then been in a steady and rapid [...]

Japan reported a record current account surplus of 250,012 100 million yen or about $215 billion for the year 2007 about a week ago. The current account balance for the past 12 years is shown in the first chart. Today Japan reported [...]

The U.S. government ran a budget surplus last month of $17.8B. The news did not, however, represent real improvement in the government's budget condition. The surplus shrank and was roughly half that during January of 2007 when a [...]

The U.S. government ran a budget surplus last month of $17.8B. The news did not, however, represent real improvement in the government's budget condition. The surplus shrank and was roughly half that during January of 2007 when a [...]

China and Singapore reported foreign trade figures for January, today. The largest country in Asia and one of the smallest both reported increases in their trade balances for the month. In the year over year comparison, however, China [...]

China and Singapore reported foreign trade figures for January, today. The largest country in Asia and one of the smallest both reported increases in their trade balances for the month. In the year over year comparison, however, China [...]

EMU import growth is slowing but export growth is slowing faster. As a result EMU has developed its first trade deficit in 16 months. Germany and Finland the two EMU countries with the lowest inflation rates in the last 10 years [...]

The Bank of France monthly business survey for January 2008 shows that production has held up but that there is a clear gnawing away at past trends. The chart at the top shows that the Biz indicators have been fairly flat recently but [...]