Economy in Brief: 2016

The ADP/Moody's National Employment Report indicated a 154,000 rise (1.9% y/y) in nonfarm private payrolls during September following a 175,000 August gain, revised from 177,000. It was the smallest rise since April. So far this year, [...]

PPI prices are starting to turn higher. At least the downward momentum is shifting and the rate of change is no longer as powerfully negative. Seven of the thirteen monthly PPI movements in the table are positive in August; that [...]

Regular gasoline prices rose to $2.25 per gallon (-3.1% y/y), 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 seasonal [...]

Total sales of light vehicles during September increased 4.5% (-1.6% y/y) to 17.76 million units (SAAR), and reversed most of August's decline. Auto sales increased 6.9% to 7.24 million units (-8.3% y/y) following a 4.5% drop. The [...]

The value of construction put-in-place fell 0.7% (-0.3% y/y) during August following a 0.3% July dip, revised from little change. The value of construction spending has been moving sideways since the middle of last year, following [...]

Factory sector activity perked up last month. The ISM Composite Index of manufacturing activity improved to 51.5 during September from an unrevised 49.4 in August. The figure compared to 50.2 expected in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

While the global manufacturing PMI data are still disappointing in September, they are for the most part better than they have been. The unweighted average of values in the table show the actual reading is above its six-month average [...]

Fresh unemployment and inflation data are out for the EMU area. Inflation is starting to creep up as the impact of stable then rising oil prices is taking a toll. But the unemployment rate has been stuck for both the EU and the EMU [...]