Economy in Brief: January 2020

The flash composites show some improvement this month- but not much of it. The EMU is dead flat unchanged month-to-month. The German index is higher while the French composite is weaker. However, the U.K. composite swings to expansion [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City reported that its index of regional manufacturing business activity improved to -1 in January following December's sharp deterioration to -5. These negative readings still indicate declining [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance increased 6,000 to 211,000 during the week ended January 18. Claims were unchanged y/y. The previous week's figure was revised to 205,000, from 204,000. The Action Economics Forecast Survey [...]

The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators declined 0.3% during December following a 0.1% November uptick, revised from no change. It was the fourth decline in five months. During all of 2019, the leading [...]

The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators declined 0.3% during December following a 0.1% November uptick, revised from no change. It was the fourth decline in five months. During all of 2019, the leading [...]

Japan's indexes of industry level activity show a gain in the all-industry index in November. The rise in November to 103.9 from 103.0 in October is driven mostly by a rise in the tertiary sector (services) although there is also a [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance increased 6,000 to 211,000 during the week ended January 18. Claims were unchanged y/y. The previous week's figure was revised to 205,000, from 204,000. The Action Economics Forecast Survey [...]

• Activity index declines to -0.35 in December. • Three-month average at -0.23 suggests below trend growth for Q4. • Production and income indicators led the decline. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s National Activity Index [...]