Economy in Brief: 2012

German orders rose in July by 0.5%, more than expected. Foreign orders crept higher by 0.1% while domestic orders advanced by 1% on the month. Over three-months and six-months foreign orders are up and their pace of growth is steady. [...]

The Composite Index for the service and construction sectors from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) rose to 53.7 during August from an unrevised 52.6 July reading. The latest matched the highest level since March and beat [...]

The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that 32,238 job cuts were announced during August. That was the lowest level since June, 2000. Job cut announcements fell in the retail, services, transportation, [...]

Initial jobless insurance claims fell to 365,000 during the week ended September 1, the lowest level in four weeks. At 377,000, the prior week was revised up from 374,000. Consensus expectations were for a decline to 370,000 during [...]

Employment growth accelerated last month. August private sector payrolls rose 201,000 as reported by the payroll processor Automatic Data Processing (ADP) and economic consultants Macroeconomic Advisers. The gain was the strongest [...]

Europe’s PMIs continue to slip. The services sector deteriorated in August but MFG actually firmed its index although still held below 50 indicating an erosion of manufacturing sector output. Germany’s services sector took a big step [...]

It seems odd, but fewer mortgage applications are accompanying falling interest rates. The Mortgage Bankers Association index of total mortgage applications fell another 2.5% last week (+27.5% y/y), the fifth straight week of sharp [...]

Workers produced more for their effort in Q2'12 than estimated last month. Nonfarm business sector productivity for last quarter was revised up to 2.2% (1.2% y/y) from last month's estimate of a 1.6% gain. However, since growth in [...]