Economy in Brief: August 2018

Real gross domestic product grew 4.2% (AR) during Q2'18 (2.9% y/y), revised higher from 4.1% reported initially. It remained the strongest increase since Q3'14. A 4.0% gain had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]

The pump price for a gallon of gasoline has been fairly steady near $2.83 per gallon since the end of June. Nevertheless, prices remained up 17.8% y/y. Haver Analytics constructs factors to adjust for the marked seasonal variation in [...]

As central bankers have been acting, planning and pondering their next move, all of them are on the road or on the tilt to reduced monetary stimulus. The Fed in the U.S. is the farthest along that trail with some 7-notches on its [...]

Consumer confidence improved this month to its firmest level since October 2000. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index during August jumped 4.3% (10.8% y/y) to 133.4 from 127.9 in July, initially reported as 127.4. The August [...]

The pump price for a gallon of gasoline has been fairly steady near $2.83 per gallon since the end of June. Nevertheless, prices remained up 17.8% y/y. Haver Analytics constructs factors to adjust for the marked seasonal variation in [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas indicated in its Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey that the General Business Activity Index fell to 30.9 during August after easing to 32.3 in July. Despite these declines, the index remained up [...]

The German IFO index rose to 105.3 in August from 104.6 in July, striking its strongest posture since it logged a value of 105.9 in March. Still, from June 2017 through February 2018, the index had carried readings of 106 or stronger, [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago reported that its National Activity index fell to 0.13 during July from 0.48 in June. The decline came after two months of great variability. The three-month moving average fell to 0.05, its lowest [...]