Economy in Brief: 2019

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago reported that its National Activity Index rose to 0.10 during August from -0.41 in July. The three-month moving average, which irons out volatility in the monthly figures, rose to -0.06 last month [...]

Total borrowing in U.S. financial markets was $2,463 billion in Q2 2019, down from $3,328 billion in Q1, according to the Federal Reserve's Financial Accounts data, which were released September 20. This Q2 amount represented 11.5% of [...]

Total borrowing in U.S. financial markets was $3,504 billion in Q1 2019... The Financial Accounts data are in Haver's FFUNDS database. Associated information is compiled in the Integrated Macroeconomic Accounts produced jointly with [...]

PREVIOUS>>>Total borrowing in U.S. financial markets was $3,504 billion in Q1 2019... The Financial Accounts data are in Haver's FFUNDS database. Associated information is compiled in the Integrated Macroeconomic Accounts produced [...]

Recent improvement in factory production has given support to industrial materials prices. The Industrial Materials Price Index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) edged 0.1% higher during the [...]

German PPI drops as Brent oil prices continue to descend The drop in the German PPI brings several thoughts to mind. One of them is that ongoing price declines are not good with inflation already undershooting and the European Central [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance in the week ending September 14 increased 2,000 to 208,000 (-1.9% y/y) from an upwardly revised 206,000 in the previous week (originally 204,000). The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected [...]

The U.S. current account deficit narrowed to $130.4 billion during Q1'19 from $143.9 billion during Q4'18....... The surplus on primary income rose modestly to $61.1 billion, down versus the record high of $66.4 billion reached one [...]