Economy in Brief: May 2016

Are EMU exports and imports the brothers Grim? It's a grim picture that trade has painted in this month's EMU trade report. Yes, for the EMU, the result is `positive' as the trade surplus is getting even larger. At 22.3 billion euros, [...]

The Consumer Price Index strengthened 0.4% (1.1% y/y) during April following an unrevised 0.1% March rise. It was the largest increase since February 2013. The gain matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. A 3.4% [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo held at 58 during May for the fourth straight month. It remained down from the October high of 65. The NAHB figures are seasonally adjusted. [...]

Japan's retail sales rose by a seasonally adjusted 1.5% in March as NSA nominal sales fell sharply. Seasonally adjusted sales are falling fast over three months and six months as well as declining over 12 months. The speed of the [...]

The Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions indicated deterioration in business activity during May. The New York index declined to -9.02 following unrevised positive readings in the prior two months. Nineteen [...]

The headline Final Demand Producer Price Index increased 0.2% (0.0% y/y) in April after an unrevised 0.1% March dip. The rise compared to a 0.3% increase expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. A 0.3% decline (-2.0% y/y) in [...]

Euro area GDP was revised down from a quarterly gain of 0.6% to a gain of 0.5%. The annualized rise is presented in the table at 2.1%. We also show year-over-year results for the last four quarters. The final column ranks each unit's [...]

Total business inventories grew 0.4% m/m in March (+1.5% y/y) following a 0.1% dip in February, which was unrevised. Total business sales rose 0.3% m/m (-1.7% y/y), their first increase since last June. Retail inventories increased [...]