Economy in Brief: March 2011

When income is tight, consumers spend less. When they look for what to cut back on, hardest hit are automobiles, electronics and furniture. And when incomes improve, these items bounce back strongly. That's the message from the table [...]

More strength is evident in the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's index of regional factory sector activity. The figure rose to 43.4 from an unrevised 35.9 in February. It was the highest level since January 1984 (no typo). It beat [...]

The chart and table tell the story of an economy that fell deeply into recession but has seen its service sector recover. The recovery in that sector is by no means full and the MFG sector, which is also on the mend, is short of what [...]

The Conference Board reported that its Index of Leading Economic Indicators rose 0.8% in February, following a slim 0.1% rise in January. The index now stands at 113.4 (2004=100), compared to the recession low 97.4, registered in [...]

U.S. industrial production slipped 0.1% in February after an upwardly revised 0.3% January increase, initially reported as -0.1%. The latest decline disappointed Consensus expectations for a 0.6% gain according to Action Economics. A [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 385,000 last week from 401,000, initially reported as 397,000. The decline roughly matched Consensus expectations according to Action Economics. Claims remained near the lowest since [...]

Broad-based improvement in pricing power continued last month. The Consumer Price Index rose 0.5% in February following 0.4% gains during the prior two months. The rise beat Consensus expectations for a 0.4% increase. The y/y gain of [...]

Consumers want to buy more furniture. That's the message indicated by the Furniture Buying Index which rose to 75 in March, up 12.0% y/y. During the last twelve years, the index has a 69% correlation with the change in real personal [...]