Economy in Brief

• Index suggests slower economic growth. • Components broadly weaken. Forward economic momentum retreated last month. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago's National Activity Index declined during November to 0.27 from 1.01 in October, [...]

State labor market data results in November were mixed, with none showing remarkable strength and some showing substantive slippage. 25 states had statistically significant drops in their unemployment rates from October to November, a [...]

The IFO gauge of the German economy, a venerated report on the state of economic conditions in Germany, logged a surprising improvement in December. The climate gauge rose to +5.0 in December from +1.5 in November. The current [...]

• Rise in leading index moderates. • Gain in coincident indicators slows substantially. • Drop in lagging index suggests less economic stress. The Conference Board reported that its Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators [...]

• Jump in imports substantially deepens the goods deficit. • Services surplus declines to eight-year low. The U.S. current account deficit grew to $178.5 billion during Q3'20 from $161.4 billion in Q2, revised from $170.5 billion. The [...]

November's retail sales plunged 1.1%, the biggest monthly decline since April. And the small gain in October retail sales was revised down, and now sales in that month show a tiny decline. The sharp drop in consumer spending on retail [...]

• Growth continued at quickest rate in four months. • New orders and employment improved. • Expectations for six months ahead deteriorated. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City reported that its manufacturing sector business [...]

Sectors beat up: black and blue French manufacturing and services sectors are stronger month-to-month in the December INSEE surveys. Still, both are well short of where they were before the Covid-19 virus struck. Compared to February, [...]