Economy in Brief

• Job openings rate strengthens across industries. • Hiring rate holds steady. • Layoffs decline while quits increase. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that on the last business day of April, the level of job openings rose to a [...]

• Gasoline prices appear to have plateaued. • Crude oil prices continue their ascent. • Natural gas prices appear to find a trough. Retail gasoline prices rose ever so slightly to $3.04 per gallon (49.1% y/y) in the week ended June 7 [...]

• Exports rose while imports fell. • Service surplus narrowed further. • Narrowing real deficit points to trade contributing to Q2 GDP growth. The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services narrowed to $68.90 billion in April from a [...]

• Slip follows three months of increase. • Components are mixed. • Pricing power continues to strengthen. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) reported that its Small Business Optimism Index rose slipped to 99.6 [...]

• Nonrevolving credit usage continues strong. • Revolving credit balances decline. Consumer credit outstanding grew $18.6 billon during April, the same as in March, revised from $25.8 billion. February's increase was revised to $18.2 [...]

The incoming economic data over the past few days have – on the whole - painted a bright picture of the world economy. May's purchasing managers surveys for the US and Europe, published last week, suggested a broadly based improvement [...]

German orders ticked lower in April, dropping by 0.2% on weak domestic orders that fell by 4.3%; foreign orders in April rose by 2.7%. Both foreign and domestic orders were up strongly in March. Domestic orders also rose strongly in [...]

Retail sales volumes in the EMU fell by 3.1% in April, shedding most of the 3.3% gain they logged in March. Sales volumes still are advancing at an 18.4% pace over three months. But they are lower at an 8.4% pace over six months and [...]