Economy in Brief: March 2004

German Industrial production in January declined 0.1% from December, 2003 as a result of mixed trends in the economy. Construction fell by 7.37%, while total production, excluding construction managed a slight gain of 0.40%. Within [...]

The ICSC-UBS survey reported that chain store sales fell 0.3% last week following little change the week prior, a result that was revised down slightly. Sales have been lackluster for the last three weeks after a strong start in [...]

Thailand's gross domestic product grew 2.65% or at an annual rate of 11.05% in the fourth quarter of 2003, well above consensus estimates. Growth for the whole year was 6.72%, the highest rate in four years. Private consumption and [...]

The Index of Leading Indicators for the Major Seven OECD Countries began 2004 signaling economic growth. A 0.3% (6.2% y/y) rise in January was the tenth consecutive monthly increase. Six-month growth in the leading index dipped [...]

Industrial production in Norway rose 1.5% in January, making a 0.5% cumulative gain since January 2003. However, most traditional sectors of Norwegian industry experienced declines. Total manufacturing, for example, was off 2.8% in [...]

Growth in non-farm payrolls slowed last month to 21,000 (0.0%) from the downwardly revised 97,000 January gain. Consensus expectations had been for a rise of 125,000. A weak 46,000 (0.4% y/y) gain in service producing payrolls was the [...]

"Low inflation in Latin America" seems almost an oxymoron. Nonetheless, of three major economies in the region, inflation is low and, in one instance, almost non-existent. Chile, whose CPI was reported today for February, has in fact [...]

Initial claims for jobless insurance fell 7,000 (-2.0%) to 345,000 last week, again matching Consensus expectations. That reversed the prior week's rise (revised up slightly). During the last ten years there has been a 77% (negative) [...]