Economy in Brief

Retail sales fell about as expected last month following firm August gains that were revised slightly down. Year to date retail sales were up at a 3.3% annual rate through September. Sales of motor vehicle and parts fell a sharp 4.8%. [...]

Prices for imported commodities surged last month by the most for any month since April. Consensus expectations were for a moderate 0.3% gain. August figures were little revised. Petroleum import prices posted the largest monthly gain [...]

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) was again negative in August, the fifth negative reading this year. The reading pulled the three-month moving average to -0.13. The index level measures deviations from zero. A zero [...]

Chain store sales recovered all of the prior week's loss according to the BTM-UBSW survey. Sales rose 0.8% last week, reversing the 0.8% drop the prior week. Sales began the month of October 0.6% below the average for September which [...]

The Weekly Leading Index of the US economy published by the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI) has fallen 4.0% from the weekly peak reached late this past May. The indicator's six-month growth rate, perhaps the more important [...]

Nonfarm payrolls fell unexpectedly last month, down 43,000. It was the first decline in payrolls since April. August's moderate payroll gain was revised up sharply to 107,000 from 39,000 reported last month. Payrolls are about [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance were about as expected in the latest week. At 417,000, claims rose 5,000 from the prior week which was revised slightly higher. The four-week moving average rose slightly to 423,000, up 11.2% [...]

According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, announced job cuts fell sharply in September, more than reversing a large rise in August. The 40.7% m/m decline lowered layoffs to the lowest since late 2000. Job cut announcements were less [...]