Economy in Brief

According to the International Council of Shopping Centers ICSC-UBS Chain store survey, chain store sales fell 0.7% last week after the 1.7% recovery during the prior period. Despite the decline, sales so far this month are up 0.5% [...]

According to the International Council of Shopping Centers ICSC-UBS Chain store survey, chain store sales fell 0.7% last week after the 1.7% recovery during the prior period. Despite the decline, sales so far this month are up 0.5% [...]

The preliminary data for January 2008 for industrial production in the Ukraine show a minimal increase of 0.06% and that for Kazakhstan, a 2% decline, as can be seen in the first chart. Industrial production in both countries, which [...]

Italy is the most troubled of the large EMU economies. It’s Industrial Output is declining on a clear downward trend. For its three major sectors, Consumer goods, Intermediate goods and Capital goods output trends are declining over [...]

France's IP was kicked down in November as a transit strike slowed the France economy. A December rebound was expected. But the rebound is less that the November drop, stirring suspicions that growth may be more fundamentally impaired [...]

France's IP was kicked down in November as a transit strike slowed the France economy. A December rebound was expected. But the rebound is less that the November drop, stirring suspicions that growth may be more fundamentally impaired [...]

Japan’s Economy watchers Index and the Teikoku Indices show the weakest economic readings in five years. The economy watchers indices are down to values of around 30 to 36. And while they are the weakest we have seen in 5 years they [...]

The OECD indices sure do look like ‘slowdown’ but with the exception of Japan, the indicated weakness is not yet that severe. In the case of Japan, while the OECD reading had been severe, its low point has passed as Japan’s signal now [...]