Economy in Brief: December 2010

The distributive trades industry, a key intermediary sector, is showing upward momentum. Sales are up to a +21 net diffusion reading after slackening over two months. Orders rose sharply in the month also after a two month lull. Sales [...]

The National Association of Home Builders reported that their index of housing market activity held at 16 this month from an unrevised 16 in November. The level of 16, in fact, has been the average for the past year. The latest figure [...]

U.S. industrial output growth recently has been hostage to variable weather influences. Growth in the factory alone, however, has been stable. For November, industrial production overall rose 0.4% and made up a 0.2% October decline, [...]

Heightened competition continued to restrain pricing power last month. That again was clear in the November report on the Consumer Price Index which ticked up only 0.1% after a 0.2% rise during October. The gain was lower than [...]

Signs of building momentum behind the U.S. economic recovery has given further support to petroleum prices. The pump price for regular gasoline rose two cents last week to $2.98 per gallon. Prices have risen roughly fifty cents per [...]

Businesses want more inventories lining the shelves. A 0.7% increase in inventories during October eased after an upwardly revised 1.3% September gain. However, the 6.9% y/y increase was nearly the strongest since late-2006. Inventory [...]

The U.S. Producer Price Index for finished goods surged 0.8% last month, double the 0.4% gains during the prior three. The rise outpaced Consensus expectations for a 0.6% increase. Higher energy prices were behind much of the strength [...]

EMU continues to be a bit of an enigma. Its economic data have held up, the OECD leading indicators project a slowdown. And, market treatment of Euro-area bonds has been rough, "R"-rated at least. Bonds get bashed - Today Spanish and [...]