Economy in Brief: April 2011

Last week, the pump price for regular gasoline rose further to $3.88 per gallon, the highest level since August, 2008. The gain was off a low that same year of $1.61. Typically, pump prices decline this time of year due to lessened [...]

It is not yet possible to quantify the damage to Japan's economy from the March Earthquake, Tsunami and the subsequent damage to its nuclear facilities. There are plenty of descriptions of the devastation and warnings of potential [...]

The improved U.S. employment picture continues to reflect the decline in mass layoffs. The Labor Department reported Friday that layoffs last month of 50 or more persons from a single firm fell 21.3% from March, 2010. Perhaps as [...]

The housing market continues to generate only modest forward momentum. Consistent with last week's report of higher sales of existing single-family homes, total new home sales in March rose 25.9% to 300,000 (AR). That, however, just [...]

The rate of improvement in economic conditions fell sharply this month according to the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's index of regional factory sector activity. The figure dropped to 18.5 from an unrevised 43.4 in March. The [...]

The Conference Board reported that its Index of Leading Economic Indicators rose 0.4% in March after an upwardly revised February gain of 1.0%, originally reported at 0.8%. Consensus expectations were for a 0.3% increase during last [...]

The German IFO index showed a weaker climate reading in April. Both the topical IFO and the lagging EMU index for Germany are showing a damping down for the overall climate index (see chart). The Manufacturing index which is stronger [...]

Initial claims for jobless insurance fell last week to 403,000 from 416,00 during the week prior, initially reported as 412,000. The latest figure exceeded Consensus expectations for 395,000 claims and remained near the highest in [...]