Economy in Brief

PMIs largely are improving in February with declines in only six and increases in eight (excluding France and Germany who already are counted in the EMU). The unweighted average for February rose for the overall group (excluding [...]

• Overall activity sets another record. • Residential building's surge led by single-family sector. • Public-sector building strengthens. Building activity continues to strengthen. The value of construction put-in-place increased 1.7% [...]

• Factory activity increases to three-year high. • Component gains are broad-based. • Pricing power improves further. Factory sector activity recovered last month following moderate weakening in January. The Institute for Supply [...]

• Business activity index reverses most of January's increase. • Declines in new orders & production lead the decline. • Employment and prices improve. The ISM-Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer fell 4.3 points in February [...]

Japan's IP surged in January gaining 4.3% compared to December; that breaks a two-month slide in output. Total industry output is still lower by 1.4% over 12 months. The robust gain gets the new quarter off to a strong start with [...]

• Income boosted by government payments of $600 to individuals. • Spending growth strengthens for goods & services. • Pricing power remains improved. Personal income jumped 10.0% (13.1% y/y) last month after increasing 0.6% during [...]

• A small narrowing had been expected. • Both exports and imports increased but at a slower pace than in December. • Net exports begin Q1 on course to be a slight drag on overall GDP growth in Q1. The advance estimate of the U.S. [...]

• PREVIOUS>>>>>>>>>>>Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose 13,000 in the week ended February 13 to 861,000...... For more details, please see the September 3 commentary on jobless claims. Data on weekly unemployment claims [...]