Economy in Brief: February 2012

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's General Business Conditions Index rose in February indicating expansion and built on its January rise. The Index of General Business Conditions rose to 10.2 from 7.3 in January. The figures have [...]

The producer price index for finished goods ticked up 0.1% last month following an unrevised 0.1% December slip. Consensus expectations had been for a 0.4% rise, according to the Action Economics survey. Core pricing power again was [...]

ItalyÆs current account and trade deficits were lifted into surplus in December as the slowdown hit domestic demand in Italy hard, contracting imports for the second month in a row. ItalyÆs domestic demand is very weak. GDP contracted [...]

New home building is improving moderately. Housing starts rose last month by 1.5% (9.9% y/y) to 699,000 from a revised 689,000 in December, initially reported as 657,000. Expectations had been for 675,000 starts in January. Starts in [...]

Labor market improvement is gaining steam. Initial unemployment insurance claims fell to 348,000 last week from 361,000 during the week prior (revised from 358,000). Claims averaged 365,250 (-12.9% y/y) during the last four weeks, the [...]

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo reported that housing market activity continues to improve. The Composite Housing Market Index for February again rose four points to 29, its highest level since April 2007. [...]

Industrial production was unchanged last month (3.3% y/y) following a revised 1.1% December rise, initially reported as 0.4%. The latest figure disappointed Consensus expectations for a 0.7% rise, according to Action Economics. [...]

The reports on GDP are still dribbling in but the EMU growth rate for 2011-Q4 could have been worse. Of course for some EMU members the growth rates were worse. Greece is undergoing a horrendous period of growth and some think before [...]