Economy in Brief: February 2018

Money supply growth globally is slowing down in the main monetary center countries. The EMU is only barely an exception to this, but if we look at the growth of real money balances, the EMU is also experiencing a slowdown. While there [...]

Retail gasoline prices slipped to $2.55 per gallon last week (+10.1% y/y) from $2.56 per gallon during the prior week. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in gasoline pump prices. The seasonally- [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas indicated in its Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey that the February General Business Activity Index improved to 37.2, its highest level since December 2005. Strength in production, shipments and [...]

Sales of new single-family homes fell 7.8% (-1.0% y/y) to 593,000 (SAAR) during January following December's decline to 643,000, revised from 625,000. It was the lowest level of sales since August. Expectations had been for 641,000 [...]

The changes in the assessments of consumers and business & professionals' optimism have moved together over recent periods as the chart shows. But over the long haul, the assessments of business prospects have a correlation of only [...]

I know that I have created some dissonance here. The title says that inflation trends are not cooperating, but the chart clearly shows inflation is falling more places than where it is rising. So what is 'not cooperating' about that? [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City reported that its index of regional manufacturing sector business activity rose to 17 during February, the highest level since October. The index was up from -12 in December 2015. The ISM- [...]

Business climate in Germany, as measured by the IFO index, has been on the rise, but it suffered a setback in February. Similarly, the French INSEE survey for manufacturing and for services has been on the rise, but each of these [...]