Economy in Brief: February 2004

The U.S. foreign trade deficit deepened sharply in December to $42.5. November's deficit was revised slightly deeper to $38.4B. Consensus expectations had been for a deficit of $39.5B. For 2003, the deficit of $489.4B by far set the [...]

Retail sales fell 0.3% last month versus the Consensus expectation for a 0.1% gain. The previously reported 0.5% rise in December sales was revised down to a 0.2% increase. Motor vehicle dealers' sales fell 3.9% m/m as unit sales of [...]

The January Small Business Optimism Index published by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) dipped 1.0% m/m but remained near a record level at 105.8. The m/m decline reflected modest declines in the percent of small [...]

Britain's merchandise trade deficit improved by 197 million pounds in December but, for the year as a whole, the deficit was 46,385 million pounds which is only slightly lower than the record deficit of 46,630 million pounds in 2002. [...]

The Index of Leading Indicators for the Major Seven OECD Countries finished 2003 with another firm gain. The 0.7% (5.9% y/y) rise in December was the ninth consecutive month of strength. Six-month growth in the leading index rose to [...]

In the immediate aftermath of the G7 Finance Minister's meeting last week, the dollar fell against the Euro and the UK pound. Early on February 9th, the euro was equal to $1.28 and the pound, $1.86. The decline in the dollar that [...]

The Weekly Leading Index of the US economy published by the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI) moved higher through much of January and earlier figures were revised up. The six-month growth rate of the weekly leading index at [...]

Growth in nonfarm payrolls again missed expectations. The 112,000 rise in January was versus Consensus expectations for a 175,000 gain. It was the fifth consecutive monthly rise in payrolls. Increases during prior months were raised [...]