Economy in Brief: 2011

The economic slowdown took a further toll on worker productivity last quarter. Labor productivity in the nonfarm business sector slipped 0.3% (AR) after a similar 0.6% decline during Q1. The declines compare to 8% quarterly growth at [...]

Japan's Economy Watchers were a bit less optimistic about future conditions in July than they were in June. The diffusion index that expresses their judgment on future conditions dropped 0.5 points from 49.0 in June to 48.5 in July. [...]

Consumers seem more secure about taking on debt. Reported late Friday, overall consumer credit surged $15.5B during June following an unrevised $5.1B May increase. A $5.1B increase had been expected by Action Economics. Credit has [...]

German IP fell in June. While orders were up with a lot of the strength in foreign orders, output lagged in June. Over three-months German IP is falling based on dropping consumer goods output and weak capital goods output. Still over [...]

Finally, an improved jobs report after two months of disappointment. Nonfarm payrolls rose 117,000 during July following increases during the prior two months that were revised upward by a collective 56,000. The latest gain compared [...]

German orders picked up in June. After falling sharply in May foreign orders surged in June by enough to make up for the May drop. Domestic orders remain in a funk, rising by just 4.6% over 12-months compared to a rise of 13.2% for [...]

Reported yesterday, manufacturing orders fell 0.8% during June after a little-revised 0.6% May increase. Consensus expectations were for a 0.7% decline. For durable goods only, orders fell 1.9% which was revised up slightly from the [...]

Initial unemployment insurance claims slipped last week to 400,00 from a revised 401,000, initially reported as 398,000. The latest figure remained the lowest since the first week of April. Consensus expectations had been for 405,000 [...]