Economy in Brief: 2013

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that its Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions for October fell to 1.52 from an unrevised 6.29 in September. The latest figure disappointed expectations for 6.5, [...]

Euro-area industrial production advanced sharply in August, rising by 1.1% reversing a drop of 1% in July. Still, in the quarter to date EMU IP is rising at a 0.4% annual rate and much faster over the last three months. Over three [...]

Most commodity prices indexes have moved sideways since the recovery from recession. Friday's industrial commodity price index, from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER), was 165.5, unchanged since [...]

The inflation situation in the European Monetary Union tells a lot about the ongoing stresses and strains in the system. The chart on the left shows the inflation performance for a group of countries that have had economic [...]

The budget debate, government furloughs, lower stock prices and higher mortgage rates seem to be weighing on consumer attitudes about the future. Consumer sentiment from the Reuters/University of Michigan survey fell sharply this [...]

In Italy industrial production trends are weak while in France there is less sense of ongoing progress and there is a big setback over the past few months. French IP is falling at an 8.3% annual rate over three-months compared with [...]

The lines to file for unemployment insurance grew last week to their longest since January. Initial claims for jobless insurance jumped 66,000 to 374,000 (6.3% y/y) during the week ended October 5 from an unrevised 308,000 during the [...]

German industrial production rose by 1.4% in August after falling by 1.1% in July. All three-major sectors reversed declines in July to advance in August. In the quarter-to-date, German IP is rising at a 2.8% annual rate, led by a [...]