Economy in Brief

This past week, the Federal Reserve Board published significant revisions to its data on commercial paper outstandings. The total amount of paper issued by all businesses is little changed, but several categories were reorganized or [...]

This past week, the Federal Reserve Board published significant revisions to its data on commercial paper outstandings. The total amount of paper issued by all businesses is little changed, but several categories were reorganized or [...]

As in the Continental countries we discussed here yesterday, business in the UK is showing some signs of picking up. The British Chambers of Commerce Quarterly Economic Survey, the largest business survey in the UK, showed modest [...]

Total business inventories slipped marginally during February following an upwardly revised 0.6% gain during the prior month. Consensus expectations had been for a 0.3% increase for February. Retail inventories reversed the prior [...]

During March, the U.S. federal government again posted a deeper budget deficit versus the same month last year. The deficit of $85.5B versus last March's deficit of $71.2B pulled the FY06 to date budget deficit of $303.0B deeper [...]

Consumer sentiment inched 0.3% higher early in April on the heels of the moderate 2.5% improvement during March. The University of Michigan's Sentiment Index rose to 89.2 and about matched Consensus expectations. During the last ten [...]

During March, total import prices fell a surprising 0.4% after an unrevised 0.5% drop the prior month. Consensus expectations had been for a 0.2% increase. Unexpected was a 0.7% decline in petroleum prices. Crude oil prices dropped [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance jumped 12,000 to 313,000 last week and reversed all of the decline in claims during the prior two weeks. Consensus expectations had been for 302,000 claims and the prior week's decline was [...]