Economy in Brief: September 2016

Italy's trade and current account surpluses are shrinking in July. The shrink is based on a drop in exports on the month that is larger than the drop in imports, a sort of economic race to the bottom. A smaller surplus will subtract [...]

The U.S. current account deficit eased to $119.9 billion in the second quarter from $131.8 billion Q1'16, revised from -$124.7 billion. The Q2 deficit figure compared to $121.9 billion expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]

Consumer price inflation rose during August. The consumer price index increased 0.2% (1.1% y/y) following little change in July. A 0.1% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Prices excluding food & energy [...]

Wage inflation is mostly subdued across the euro area. Data through the second quarter show that EMU hourly wage costs are up by only 1% over 12 months and that wage growth is at a slightly slower pace than that over three months [...]

The Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions remained below zero during September. The index level of -1.99 was slightly improved, however, versus -4.21 in August. Expectations had been for -1.0 in the Action [...]

Europe's passenger car registrations rose by 10.3% month-to-month after a 9.7% drop in July. The welcome bounce back leaves registrations higher by 9.7% year-over-year. The sequential growth rates for registrations are not very [...]

In August, the U.S. PPI for final demand was dead flat with the core (excluding food and energy) up in the month by a thin 0.1%. The PPI is coming off a volatile streak; it rose by 0.5% in June and then fell by 0.4% in July. Headline [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index increased in September to 12.8 from an unrevised 2.0 in August. It was the firmest reading since February 2015, and was higher than [...]