Economy in Brief

One month U.S. import prices move up, the next month they're down. And sometimes, they remain unchanged. All three possibilities have been in evidence since last November. The trend is up but the rate of increase appears to have [...]

The role of industrial production in most highly developed economies has declined in importance as the role of services has loomed larger. Nevertheless, industrial production still represents a significant portion of these economies [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the job openings rate, from the Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), was unchanged from a downwardly revised 2.8% in December. The job openings rate is the number of job openings [...]

The US current account deficit surged last quarter to $224.9B from the revised 3Q deficit $185.4B. Last year, the current account deficit of $804.9B jumped $136.9B from 2004 to a new record and equaled 6.4% of GDP. Consensus [...]

Chain store sales inched 0.1% higher last week following a 0.2% gain the prior period, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)-UBS survey. Because of a 1.5% jump late last month, the latest increase lifted [...]

US retail sales fell 1.3% last month but several factors suggest the decline hardly indicates consumer spending weakness, even though it exceeded Consensus expectations for a 0.8% drop. 1) January's warm weather surge in spending was [...]

US retail sales fell 1.3% last month but several factors suggest the decline hardly indicates consumer spending weakness, even though it exceeded Consensus expectations for a 0.8% drop. 1) January's warm weather surge in spending was [...]

The diffusion index of Consumer confidence in Japan rose sharply in early 2004 and has shown little change up or down since then. However, the index in February, 2006 at 49.8 is the highest level since early 1990. Monthly data on [...]