Economy in Brief

The dissenting opinion at the last FOMC meeting from Richmond Fed Bank President Lacker no doubt reflected more than a concern that economic growth was still too robust to be consistent with moderate inflation, but that various [...]

Employment is rising in Europe, as we have noted frequently here recently. Poland, whose Central Statistical Office issued some July data today, is no exception. The enterprise sector saw an increase of 10,000 in July, following [...]

Initial claims for jobless insurance last week dipped 1,000 to 313,000 after a revised 8,000 decline the prior week. Consensus expectations had been for 315,000 claims. During the last ten years there has been a (negative) 78% [...]

New orders for durable goods backpedaled 2.4% last month after an upwardly revised 3.5% surge during June. Consensus expectations had been for a 0.5% dip. Again, volatile orders for nondefense aircraft & parts provided much of the [...]

Sales of new single family home sales dropped 4.3% last month to 1.072M though a 0.9% June decline was revised shallower. Consensus expectations had been for July sales of 1.10M. New home sales during the first seven months of this [...]

Sales of new single family home sales dropped 4.3% last month to 1.072M though a 0.9% June decline was revised shallower. Consensus expectations had been for July sales of 1.10M. New home sales during the first seven months of this [...]

Japan's trade balance appears to have stabilized after a surge in petroleum imports cut it back last year. In July, the balance was ¥800 billion, up from ¥624 billion a year ago and an average of ¥726 billion for 2005. Obviously, [...]

The number of mass layoff events in July increased 2.6% after a 2.1% gain during June. Despite the increases, layoff events during the first seven months of 2006 remained down 11.4% from the year earlier period. During the last ten [...]