Economy in Brief: June 2010

According to the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, the economic recovery continued this month but its rate of expansion slowed. The Bank's June index of regional factory sector activity slipped to 8.0 from 21.4 during May. The latest [...]

The U.S. current account deficit widened in Q1 to $109.0 billion from a revised $100.9 billion in Q4 2009. The year 2009 was revised from $419.9 billion to $378.4 billion. Relative to GDP, the Q1 number is 3.0%, the widest gap since [...]

UK retail sales rose by 0.4% in May as April sales were revised lower. The volume of ex-auto retail sales rose 0.6% from a month earlier and gained 2.2% on a year-to-year basis in May. The year-to-year increase was the strongest since [...]

Following three weeks of ease, the rise in initial unemployment insurance claims last week disappointed Consensus expectations for another decline. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that initial claims for jobless insurance rose [...]

The Conference Board reported that their May Index of Leading Economic Indicators rose 0.4% following an upwardly revised no-change during April. The three-month rate of increase held steady at 7.2% (AR), still its weakest in roughly [...]

Retail pricing power remained weak month despite some improvement in consumer purchases. The May Consumer Price Index fell 0.2% (+2.0% y/y) for the second consecutive monthly decline. Emphasizing the loss of pricing power, the May CPI [...]

Retail pricing power remained weak month despite some improvement in consumer purchases. The May Consumer Price Index fell 0.2% (+2.0% y/y) for the second consecutive monthly decline. Emphasizing the loss of pricing power, the May CPI [...]

The FASB's new accounting rules 166 and 167 on the use of off-balance sheet accounting for securitized debt issues took effect at the beginning of 2010 for financial institutions with a calendar year fiscal year. From a data user's [...]