Economy in Brief: September 2011

While many developed and developing countries, are beginning to loosen monetary policies in the face of the global slowdown, India continues to tighten. Over the past year, the Bank of India has raised the repo rate 350 basis points [...]

German orders are slipping. So are orders in Spain. The monthly data are choppy but the trends are clearer. By comparison the US order-flow is holding up and has steadied. The German orders profile is the most extreme because Germany [...]

On two counts the National Association of Home Builders report on housing market activity this month was a disappointment. First, the September figure fell back to 14, near its lowest of the recovery. Second, it was short of Consensus [...]

The University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment for mid-September bounced slightly higher to 57.8 following its August plunge to 55.7. A reading of 56.0 had been expected by Action Economics. Nevertheless, the reading was [...]

Withering from heights - The chart offers a very clear picture of euro-trends. Export growth is withering. Import growth is withering in step. As a result the EMU external trade deficit has steadied at around -Ć2.5bln. Near term [...]

Unlike the modest uptick in the Philadelphia Fed's index, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported yesterday that its Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions fell to -8.82 in September. The number was weaker [...]

UK retail sales were flat in August. While three-month sales growth rates showed some life, UK retail sales have all the earmarks of a sector with not much going on. UK inflation remains stubborn with the HICP up by 4.5% Yr/Yr in [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's index of regional factory sector for September recovered a piece of its August deterioration. Today's Philadelphia Fed General Activity index rose to -17.5 from an unrevised -30.7 in August. The [...]