Economy in Brief: 2008

Consumer confidence in Japan, as measured by a diffusion index, declined again in July and was at the lowest level recorded since June 1982 when confidence was first measured. The history of the index is shown in the first chart. [...]

Small business optimism, according to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), fell another 1.1% last month after having been roughly unchanged in June. The index was near the low in 1975 which was its second lowest [...]

For June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in the Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) reported that the number of job openings ticked down 0.1% (-15.0% y/y) from May. The dip followed a 0.5% gain during May. Since [...]

According to the International Council of Shopping Centers chain store sales fell 0.2% last week and that was enough to return the level of sales to where it was in the third week of June. Sales were still up 0.4% from the June [...]

The pump price for a gallon of regular gasoline repeated the prior week's decline and fell seven cents last week to $3.81 per gallon, according to the U.S. Department of Energy survey. The price has now fallen by 30 cents, or 7.4%, [...]

During June, the U.S. foreign trade deficit narrowed again to $56.8B after shrinking to the little-revised $59.2B in May. A deficit of $61.9B had been the Consensus expectation for June. So far this year the monthly trade deficit has [...]

During June, the U.S. foreign trade deficit narrowed again to $56.8B after shrinking to the little-revised $59.2B in May. A deficit of $61.9B had been the Consensus expectation for June. So far this year the monthly trade deficit has [...]

Second quarter data on the national accounts of the emerging countries of the Pacific Rim are becoming available. More than two weeks ago, South Korea announced that its seasonally unadjusted second quarter GDP increased 4.8% over the [...]