Economy in Brief: August 2011

Initial unemployment insurance claims remained above 400,000 yet again, but at least this week there is one good reason for this elevated level: the strike of union members against Verizon Communications. Indeed, the Labor Department [...]

The UK distributive trades sector is still floundering. The sales metric for August compared to one year ago fell to -20 from +4 in July a huge month-to-month drop. Orders from one year ago fell to -15 from -7. Sales for "the time of [...]

New orders for durable goods rebounded by 4.0% last month and both June and May were revised higher, June from -2.1% to -1.3% and May from 1.9% to 2.0%. The July gain was mainly in transportation; the total excluding transportation [...]

There is no mistaking the sector trends in the chart for the German IFO index. Sectors are losing momentum and that loss of momentum has accelerated. While there is some DENIAL economics in train I think we are best off swallowing the [...]

Extreme fluctuations set the stage In the US the out-sized and near record monthly drop in the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's MFG index gave economists, investors and other interested parties reason for slack-jawed pause. Coming [...]

Total new home sales decreased 0.7% in July, a third successive reduction. June's sales were revised from 312,000 to 300,000, and May's from 315,000 to 309,000. The July volume was a bit weaker than forecast; the Action Economics [...]

The Chicago Fed's National Activity Index (CFNAI) remained negative in July, but it still improved noticeably from June's reading. The last couple of months were revised positively as well. These latest data relieved some of the [...]

Japan’s indices are showing a rebound in its three main sectors: Manufacturing, Services (tertiary sector) and Construction. The rebound is being led by a strong recovery after a deep drop in manufacturing and mining. Services [...]