Economy in Brief: 2014

Petroleum prices remain under downward pressure. The cost of a gallon of regular gasoline fell sharply last week to $3.30 (-2.0% y/y), its least expensive since early-February. To account for seasonal patterns, Haver Analytics [...]

Since late-August, the industrial commodity price index, from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER), has shown outsized weakness. The decline amounts to 4.1% (-3.1% y/y) and has been widespread [...]

German new orders, seasonally adjusted and expressed in real terms, fell sharply in August. They are falling over horizons of three months, six months and 12 months. The August decline in orders of 5.7% was led by an 8.4% decline in [...]

The international trade data can be found in Haver's USECON database. Detailed figures are available in the USINT database. The expectations figures are from the Action Economics Forecast Survey, which is carried in the AS1REPNA. [...]

The pace of nonmanufacturing activity backpedaled in September. The Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) composite nonmanufacturing index declined to 58.6 from 59.6 in August and 58.7 in July. This is a diffusion index where a [...]

The U.S. foreign trade deficit in goods and services narrowed marginally in August to $40.1 billion from $40.3 billion in July. That month had edged in from $40.8 billion in June. The Action Economics consensus expectation looked for [...]

Nonfarm payroll employment posted a 248,000 increase during September (1.9% y/y) following upwardly revised gains of 180,000 and 243,000 during the prior two months. The rise exceeded expectations for a 215,000 increase in the Action [...]

Euro area retail sales in August snapped back sharply, rising by 1.2% after falling by 0.4% in July. The three-month performances boosted the growth rate to 4.9%, up from 0.6% over six months and 0.6% over 12 months. The growth of [...]