Economy in Brief

As of last month, the Northeast had seemed to stabilize. So had the Midwest. In the South conditions had still been easing but with a hint of flatness month/month in July. But in August the South saw sales fall again and the West saw [...]

As of last month, the Northeast had seemed to stabilize. So had the Midwest. In the South conditions had still been easing but with a hint of flatness month/month in July. But in August the South saw sales fall again and the West saw [...]

The July weakness in manufacturing new orders for the entire Euro Area is hardly a surprise. Earlier releases of data on new orders for several of the member countries were pointing in this direction. The index of new orders for [...]

Belgium is not one of the large EU countries. But it is situated in the heart of the union and it does issue an index ahead of those issued by other EU member countries. It is the timeliness of this index and its correlation with the [...]

July orders are weak across the EU main countries In July EMU-13 orders were off by 4%, a sharp reversal of July’s 4.5% gain. In August the twin forces of the US ‘subprime’ meltdown and the Euro’s rise will be further impediments for [...]

Since the Fed lowered interest rates last week, many now worry that the risk of future price inflation has risen. In fact, if the slope of the yield curve is any measure, i.e., the difference between the yield on the 10 year and 2 [...]

Since the Fed lowered interest rates last week, many now worry that the risk of future price inflation has risen. In fact, if the slope of the yield curve is any measure, i.e., the difference between the yield on the 10 year and 2 [...]

Retail trade in Canada fell 0.8% in July following on a 1.1% drop in June. May had been stronger, with a 2.8% increase. The July result year-on-year was up 3.8%. This was the weakest y/y increase since October 2005, although the [...]