Economy in Brief

US light vehicle sales during March dipped 0.1% m/m to 16.59M units according to the Autodata Corporation and were slightly softer than Consensus expectations for sales of 16.7M. Sales of US made vehicles were weak and posted a 1.4% [...]

US light vehicle sales during March dipped 0.1% m/m to 16.59M units according to the Autodata Corporation and were slightly softer than Consensus expectations for sales of 16.7M. Sales of US made vehicles were weak and posted a 1.4% [...]

Manufacturing PMI's (Purchasing Manager's Indexes) were released today by NTC Research, Ltd. The index for the Euro Zone has been in an expansion mode (i.e. above 50) since last July. The March figure released today, 56.07, was the [...]

After a lackluster performance during January, the February value of construction put in place rose 0.8%, double the upwardly revised gain the prior month. Consensus expectations had been for a 0.5% increase. Residential building [...]

The March Composite Index of activity in the factory sector fell to 55.2. The Institute of Supply Management (ISM) reported that most of the prior month's increase was reversed and that the 1Q average level was the lowest since the [...]

The March Composite Index of activity in the factory sector fell to 55.2. The Institute of Supply Management (ISM) reported that most of the prior month's increase was reversed and that the 1Q average level was the lowest since the [...]

We've written about Japan frequently here the last few weeks, and candidly, we make no apology for appearing to be single-minded. Economists, practitioners of "the dismal science", rarely, it seems, have the opportunity to discuss [...]

Factory inventories dropped 0.4% last month. This first decline since August of last year followed 1.1% accumulation during January, that was twice the 0.5% gain initially estimated. Motor vehicle & parts inventories dropped 0.4% [...]