Economy in Brief: February 2016

The consumer reaped the benefit from lower gasoline prices last month and ramped up spending elsewhere. Retail sales gained 0.2% during January (3.4% y/y) following a 0.2% December rise, revised from -0.1%. A 0.1% uptick had been [...]

Import prices declined 1.1% during January (-6.2% y/y), the same as in December, revised from -1.2%. A 1.5% decline had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Petroleum prices fell 13.4% (-35.3% y/y) following a 9.2% [...]

Total business inventories edged up 0.1% m/m (1.7% y/y) in December, following a 0.1% m/m decline in both November and October. Total business sales fell 0.6% m/m (-2.7% y/y) in December for their third consecutive monthly decline. [...]

European GDP decelerated slightly over four quarters while annualized GDP also slipped quarter to quarter. But the industrial sector was holding things back in Q4. Industrial output fell by 0.3% (annualized) in Q4 and it dropped by 1% [...]

The consumer reaped the benefit from lower gasoline prices last month and ramped up spending elsewhere. Retail sales gained 0.2% during January (3.4% y/y) following a 0.2% December rise, revised from -0.1%. A 0.1% uptick had been [...]

Despite continued weakness in factory sector output around the world during January, industrial commodity prices showed scattered improvement. The industrial price index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic [...]

Dutch retail sales have had a rocky time since 2007. After that, the first flirtation with advancing sales was in 2010, but that did not last. Since 2014, however, year-over-year sales have been steadily advancing. Even so, recent [...]

Initial unemployment insurance claims retreated to 269,000 during the week ended February 6 from an unrevised 285,000 in the prior week. The four-week moving average declined to 281,250, yet has been working higher since October. [...]