Economy in Brief: 2003

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that the Empire State Manufacturing Survey index of general business conditions fell below zero in March. The decline to -2.51 was right in line with Consensus expectations. Diffusion [...]

Finished producer prices surged in February. The jump followed strength the month prior. Consensus expectations were for a 0.6% gain. Finished energy prices surged 7.4% (25.2% y/y), the most for any month since July 1990. Gasoline [...]

Retail sales in February fell 1.6%, triple Consensus expectations for a 0.5% decline. Sales in January were revised up wholly due to a lessened decline in sales of motor vehicles and parts. Sales excluding motor vehicles and parts [...]

The US current account deficit narrowed to $127.5B in 4Q, the shallowest in over a year. The deficit for all of 2003 of $541.8B by far set a new record and totaled 4.9% of GDP. Consensus expectations had been for a 4Q deficit of [...]

The U.S. foreign trade deficit narrowed unexpectedly in January but it still was the second deepest deficit on record. December's record deficit was little revised. Consensus expectations had been for a January deficit of $43.0B. [...]

German industrial production rose 1.65% in January, a turnaround from December’s sharp decline, and well above the consensus that had anticipated a further decline of 0.5%. Construction continued to be weak and was down 2.63% from [...]

Chain store sales rose 0.6% last week and added to a 0.2% rise the week prior according to the BTM-UBSW survey. Sales began the month of March 0.3% ahead of the February average. During the last five years there has been a 62% [...]

The Weekly Leading Index of the US economy published by the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI) managed a slight gain in the final week of February, but it was only the second rise in the last seven weeks . Recent weakness pulled [...]