Economy in Brief: 2011

The Institute for Supply Management reported that its August Composite Index of factory sector activity dropped slightly to 50.6 from an unrevised 50.9 in July. Nevertheless, the figure was nearly the lowest since the economic [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 409,000 in the week ended August 27, down from 421,000 during the prior week (revised from 417,000). The latest figure roughly matched an expected 407,000 according to the Action [...]

UK consumers are suffering a relapse. After seeing confidence jump in May, June, July and August have brought on a relapse. Is it the knock-on effects of the European debt crisis or an overdose of the policies of the Conservative [...]

Manufacturing orders jumped 2.4% during July after a revised 0.4% June slip. Consensus expectations were for a 1.8% gain. For durable goods only orders rose 4.1% which roughly equaled the gain in the advance report. Nondurable goods [...]

The outplacement firm of Challenger, Grey & Christmas reported that job cut announcements during August fell back following their July surge. The decline to 51,114 nevertheless left them up 47.0% from last August. The uptick in [...]

Employment growth continued to sputter last month according to the payroll processor Automatic Data Processing (ADP) and economic consultants Macroeconomic Advisers. The August gain in private nonfarm payrolls of 91,000 followed a [...]

Intuit compiles data covering small business employment and, as of this month, the figures are still improving. For August, its employment index rose 0.2% for the ninth consecutive month, but figures before August were revised down [...]

The European Commission's Economic Sentiment Indicator for the Euro Area fell below its long time average of 100 to 98.3 in August, the first time it has been below 100 since June of 2010. As can be seen in the first chart, the [...]