Economy in Brief: 2018

Output per hour in the nonfarm business sector grew at an unrevised 2.9% seasonally adjusted annual rate in Q2'18 (1.3% year-on-year), following a 0.3% gain in Q1. In Q4'17 productivity declined at a 0.3% pace. The consensus in the [...]

Retail sales in the European Monetary Union (EMU) countries dropped by 0.2% in July, lowering their three-month growth rate to a 1.5% annual pace. Retail sales in the EMU are rising at just a 2.1% pace over six months and by 1.2% over [...]

Total sales of light vehicles of 16.72 million units (SAAR) in August (0.8% y/y) compared to 16.77 million in July according to the Autodata Corporation. The m/m slip left sales 8.0% below the 18.16 million unit high reached last [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened to $50.08 billion during July from June's $45.74 billion which was little revised from last month's report. It was the deepest deficit since February. A deficit of $49.9 billion had [...]

Gasoline prices eased to $2.82 per gallon (+5.4% y/y) last week and remained down from the late-May high of $2.96. Haver Analytics constructs factors to adjust for the marked seasonal variation in prices. The seasonally-adjusted [...]

The Markit Global manufacturing PMI data for August are in. And there is a broad manufacturing slowing in place to which the U.S. is a notable exception. Of the 17 reporting units in the table, nine show month-to-month declines. The [...]

Forward momentum in building activity continues to slow. The value of construction put-in-place improved 0.1% (5.8% y/y) during July following a 0.8% decline in June, revised from -1.1%. A 0.4% increase was expected in the Action [...]

The ISM composite index of activity in the factory sector increased to 61.3 during August from 58.1 in July, which was unrevised. The latest level was the highest since May 2004 as each of the index components improved. A reading of [...]