Economy in Brief: 2016

WTI crude oil prices rose to $50.42 per barrel last week (7.7% y/y). Yesterday, prices eased to $49.94 per barrel, but they remain up from a daily low of $26.21 per barrel in February. Brent crude oil prices rose to $52.26 per barrel [...]

The consumer price index increased 0.3% (1.5% y/y) during September following an unrevised 0.2% rise. It was the strongest increase since April, and matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Prices excluding food & [...]

Industrial output nudged 0.1% higher (-1.0% y/y) during September following a 0.5% August decline, revised from -0.4%. The increase matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Factory sector production increased 0.2% [...]

The Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions for October remained below zero for the third straight month as it fell to -6.80 from -2.00 in September. Earlier figures were revised slightly. Expectations had been for [...]

Japan's industrial production gain is at 1.3% month-to-month in August, lower than the preliminary 1.5% that had been reported initially. Still, (as the chart shows) year-over-year gains in IP are beginning to take hold across all [...]

The U.S. Treasury Department reported that during fiscal year 2016 the federal government ran a budget deficit of $587.4 billion versus $438.9 billion in FY'15. It was the largest budget shortfall since FY'13, and brought the deficit [...]

Total business inventories increased 0.2% during August (0.7% y/y) following an unrevised little change in July. Total business sales also increased 0.2%, and were little changed y/y. The inventory-to-sales ratio remained stable at [...]

The headline Final Demand Producer Price Index increased 0.3% (0.7% y/y) during September following unrevised stability in August. A 0.2% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Excluding food & energy, prices [...]