Economy in Brief: 2018

Consumer credit outstanding increased $10.20 billion (4.7% y/y) during June following a $24.27 billion rise in May, revised from $24.56 billion. The $16.0 billion gain had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. During [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate during June held steady m/m at 4.3%. It remained higher than the 4.0% rate twelve months earlier. (The job openings rate is the job openings level as a percent [...]

Germany's industrial production has been oscillating monthly. Output has fallen month-to-month in seven of the last ten months. But IP weakness has been greatest from January to April during this period. As we try to track the impact [...]

Retail gasoline prices remained at $2.85 per gallon last week, up 16.5% from $2.45 at the end of last year. Haver Analytics constructs factors to adjust for the marked seasonal variation in prices. The seasonally-adjusted gasoline [...]

One of the great economic mysteries of the past 20 years has been the lack of cyclical pressure in core consumer price inflation. The answers to this mystery are from being merely academic since the stance of monetary policy is now [...]

Orders Drop in Five of Last Six Months; Is the Weakness Over Or Is It Just Beginning? Germany’s orders last dropped more than 4% in a month in January 2017. This time a 4% drop in June comes after a 2.6% gain in May. But this is no [...]

The Industrial Materials Price Index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) declined 3.7% last month, as it did during the prior two four-week periods. Prices have been falling since the third [...]

The Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Activity from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) rose to 59.1 during June from an unrevised 58.6 in May............. Haver Analytics constructs a Composite Index using the [...]