Economy in Brief: 2019

The U.S. pump price for gasoline eased to $2.57 per gallon (-8.9% y/y) last week from the prior week's $2.60 per gallon. Prices have fallen for six consecutive weeks. Haver Analytics calculates a series which is adjusted for the [...]

The IFO climate gauge weakened in August, dropping to -1.4 points in diffusion terms (up responses minus down responses) after logging a net 1.2 point diffusion score in July. Since January 2015, this is the lowest reading. But on a [...]

Manufacturers' orders for durable goods rose 2.1% in July (0.7% year-on-year) following a slightly downwardly revised increase of 1.8% gain in June. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected a 1.4% gain. Orders for transportation [...]

Globally, inflation pressures continue to diminish. In Japan, inflation is creeping along at 0.5% over 12 months and at 0.6% excluding food and energy. Since 2001, U.S., EMU and Japanese inflation rates have remain large below 2%. In [...]

Globally, inflation pressures continue to diminish. In Japan, inflation is creeping along at 0.5% over 12 months and at 0.6% excluding food and energy. Since 2001, U.S., EMU and Japanese inflation rates have remain large below 2%. In [...]

New home sales declined 12.8% m/m (+4.3% y/y) in July to 635,000 (SAAR) from 728,000 in June, a massive upward revision from the initially reported 646,000. Sales in May were revised down slightly to 602,000 from 604,000. Sales of [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City reported that its index of regional manufacturing business activity declined to -6 in August after falling to -1 in July. These negative figures suggest declining business activity overall and [...]

EMU readings for August show a clear but minor sense of stabilization. The service sector reading that had been rising has slowed and is back to its June level. Manufacturing's PMI moved higher in August but still below its June [...]