Economy in Brief: January 2015

The ZEW financial experts contributing to the responses in the ZEW index are upbeat in January. The current index has jumped to 41.2 this month from 32.4 in December; it is stronger only 15% of the time. Since January 1994, the [...]

Prices for industrial materials continue to exhibit broad-based decline. The industrial commodity price index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) fell 11.8% through last week versus one year [...]

Prices for industrial materials continue to exhibit broad-based decline. The industrial commodity price index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) fell 11.8% through last week versus one year [...]

Industrial production ticked 0.1% lower last month (+4.8% y/y) following an unrevised 1.3% jump. The latest gain was held back by a 7.4% slump (-5.4%) in utility output. The 4.3% average annual gain in total output, however, was the [...]

EMU car registrations fell in December on the back of a decline in November. While that is not a strong ending to the year, 2014 was the first year since 2009 that calendar year car registrations rose in the EMU. Sales rose by 3.6% [...]

Consumer prices continued declining by the most in six years. The consumer price index fell 0.4% during December following an unrevised 0.3% fall during November. It was the largest monthly drop since December 2008 and matched [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that its Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions rebounded to 9.95 during January, after falling to -1.23 in December, revised from -3.58. These figures, nevertheless, [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index for January fell sharply to 6.3 from 24.3 in December. The figure was the lowest since February and fell well below expectations [...]