Economy in Brief: December 2020

• Q3 GDP surge follows Q2 plunge; final demand improvement strengthened. • Record after-tax profits' rebound is reduced. • Prices improve as previously reported. U.S. real GDP rose 33.4% (SAAR) during Q3'20 (-2.8% y/y), revised from a [...]

• Conference Board measure of consumer confidence falls for second consecutive month; lowest since August. • Current conditions index plummets while expectations rise. • Jobs gap suggests flat-to-up unemployment rate in December. The [...]

• Gasoline prices rose to highest since mid-March. • Crude oil prices rise again to highest level since February. • Natural gas prices rebound. The price of regular gasoline was rose to $2.22 per gallon (-12.2% y/y) in the week ended [...]

The CBI (Confederation of British Industry) survey of U.K. retailers shows clear December improvement compared to November. All current retail measures are better than in November and the inventory reading is leaner (in fact extremely [...]

• Index suggests slower economic growth. • Components broadly weaken. Forward economic momentum retreated last month. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago's National Activity Index declined during November to 0.27 from 1.01 in October, [...]

State labor market data results in November were mixed, with none showing remarkable strength and some showing substantive slippage. 25 states had statistically significant drops in their unemployment rates from October to November, a [...]

The IFO gauge of the German economy, a venerated report on the state of economic conditions in Germany, logged a surprising improvement in December. The climate gauge rose to +5.0 in December from +1.5 in November. The current [...]

• Rise in leading index moderates. • Gain in coincident indicators slows substantially. • Drop in lagging index suggests less economic stress. The Conference Board reported that its Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators [...]