Economy in Brief: 2013

Japan's industrial output rose by 1% in October, beating expectations. Output in Japan cratered in early 2012; it has been gradually advancing since then. The year-over-year growth rate of 5.3% is the highest since May 2012. Japan has [...]

Price inflation at the wholesale level is virtually nonexistent. The Producer Price Index for finished goods slipped 0.1% last month (+0.7% y/y) following an unrevised 0.2% October decline. A 0.1% uptick had been expected in the [...]

Import prices declined 0.6% (-1.5% y/y) last month, the same as during October. A 0.7% drop had been expected. The 3.5% drop (-2.8% y/y) in petroleum prices, roughly the same as in October, accounted for last month's fall in overall [...]

Total business inventories increased 0.7% in October (3.6% y/y) following a 0.6% September gain. These inventories accompanied a 0.5% rise in business sales (3.9% y/y) after September's 0.3% increase. As a result, the inventory-to- [...]

While EMU industrial production is off in October, it still has eked out a small gain over 12-months. Its gains continue to lag behind those of industrial output in the US, but both the US and EMU IP trajectories appear to be headed [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance bounced up to 368,000 last week (4.0% y/y) following 300,000 during the week ended November 30, revised from 298,000. The rise outpaced consensus expectations for 320,000 claims and the four [...]

Retail sales gained strength during November as new cars were bought and as consumers dined out more. Retail spending firmed 0.7% (4.7% y/y) following a 0.6% October advance, revised up from 0.4%. A 0.6% rise had been expected in the [...]

German inflation remains subdued despite a headline gain of 0.4% in November. Year-over-year the German HICP is up by 1.6% and its growth rate is only a touch greater over three-months and six-months. The diffusion calculation on the [...]