Economy in Brief

Retail sales surged 1.8% last month on the heels of a 1.0% jump in February. This surprising strength far exceeded Consensus expectations for a 0.7% March gain. Sales' gains in both February and January were revised up. Retail sales [...]

In February, Japan's current account surplus, on a seasonally adjusted basis, was virtually unchanged from the previous month, but was up by 535.6 million yen from February, 2003. On a year over year basis, there were increases in the [...]

Gains in the Index of Leading Indicators for the Major Seven OECD Countries continue to signal positive economic growth, but the 0.1% uptick in February and the upwardly revised 0.4% January increase are slower than the 0.7-0.9% gains [...]

Initial claims for jobless insurance fell 14,000 last week to 328,000, the lowest level since January 2001. The prior week's level was unrevised and Consensus expectations had been for 340,000 claims. The 4-week moving average of [...]

Imported commodities prices jumped 0.9% in March, nearly double the Consensus expectation for a 0.5% rise. The surge was led by a 6.1% m/m jump in petroleum prices. In early April, the price of Brent Crude Oil is down 7.1% versus the [...]

The latest German figures on employment and unemployment were disappointing. The unemployment rate rose to 10.4% in March from 10.3% in February. The latest data on employment which are for January, show a continued decline. Some 38.2 [...]

Retail gasoline prices rose last week to a record high level of $1.78 per gallon, the average US price for all formulations. That was versus an average price of $1.74 in March and an average $1.69 in March '03. Crude oil prices [...]

Purchasing Managers in the service industry in the Euro Zone reported a slowing in activity in March. The index based on a survey of 2,000 purchasing managers at service companies operating in the Euro zone compiled for Reurters Group [...]