Economy in Brief: March 2003

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 [...]

Nonfarm payrolls fell by the most for any month since November 2001. Consensus expectations were for a 10,000 worker rise. The rise in January payrolls was revised up moderately. February payrolls may have been depressed by the [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance unexpectedly rose last week, up 2.9% from the prior week's level which was little revised. It was the third consecutive week of significant increase. Claims for all of February were 5.6% [...]

Unit sales of light vehicles fell sharply in February for the second month. The 4.7% m/m decline followed a steep 11.5% drop the prior month. February sales were slightly below Consensus expectations for a 15.9 mil. unit sales rate. [...]