Economy in Brief: 2012

The labor market advanced into new territory last week. Initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped to 350,000 in the week ended July 7 from 376,000 during the prior week, revised from 374,000. That put the latest level at its [...]

Talk of global recession continues to pressure commodity prices downward. At 160.8, the latest price index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) was down 6.3% from its recent high and off 7.5% [...]

The U.S. foreign trade deficit during May narrowed sharply to $48.7B from a little-revised $50.6B in April. Expectations were for a deficit of $49.0B. Exports ticked up 0.2% (4.2% y/y) while imports fell 0.7% (-9.8% y/y) with lower [...]

The United Kingdom and three Euro Area Countries--France Italy and the Netherlands-- released May data on industrial production today. (The data can be found in the G10 data base as well as in the data bases of the individual [...]

After two months of decline energy prices turned upward last week. The pump price of regular gasoline rose five cents to $3.41 per gallon last week. Haver Analytics' seasonally-adjusted price for regular rose six cents to $3.15 per [...]

The rate of labor market improvement rose during May. The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated in its Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that the rate of 2.7% reversed its April decline and was improved versus the recession [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index fell sharply during June to 91.4 from an unrevised 94.4 in May. The latest level was the lowest since October. The percentage of firms [...]

Monthly growth in consumer credit picked up to its fastest this year during May. The Federal Reserve reported yesterday that credit grew $17.1B (AR, 5.3% y/y) after a $10.0B rise in April, revised from $6.5B. A $10.0B increase had [...]