Economy in Brief: 2016

European auto registrations rose in September following a huge gain in August. The August spurt followed a nearly identically massive drop in July. The registration series has become outlandishly volatile. For this reason, we plot [...]

Total retail sales & spending at restaurants increased 0.6% during September (2.7% y/y) following a 0.2% August decline, revised from -0.3%. The increase matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Despite the [...]

Initial unemployment insurance filings held steady at 246,000 (-6.1% y/y) during the week ended October 8. The prior week's level was revised from 249,000. The four-week moving average of claims fell to 249,250, the lowest level since [...]

Japan continues as if cursed with a similar travail to that of Sisyphus. He was condemned to have to roll a huge boulder up a hill only to see it roll back over him to sit the floor of the hill so he was forever to commit the same [...]

Import prices notched 0.1% higher (-1.1% y/y) during September following an unrevised 0.2% August decline. The increase matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. These figures are not seasonally adjusted. A 1.2% [...]

The total job openings rate declined to 3.6% in August, down from the record high of 3.9% in July. It was the lowest rate since December. The private sector job openings rate fell to 3.9%, a three month low. In the government sector, [...]

There has been a noticeable lull in manufacturing over the past year. It is not just Europe or just the United States. The Markit PMI data confirm a global slowdown with low PMI readings being endemic to the global economy. Global PMI [...]

Regular gasoline prices rose to $2.27 per gallon (-2.8% y/y) last week, the highest level since early July. Prices remained down, however, versus a 2014 high of $3.71 per gallon. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the [...]