Economy in Brief: 2016

The U.S. current account deficit widened to $124.7 billion in the first quarter of 2016 from a revised $113.4 billion deficit in the fourth quarter of 2015 (originally -$125.3 billion). The Q1 figure was in line with the expectation [...]

The recent increase in energy prices has been offset by a tame pricing environment elsewhere. Last month, that left the increase in the Consumer Price Index moderating to 0.2% (1.0% y/y) following an unrevised 0.4% April rise. The [...]

Mixed Grill... Today we pair a table on historic HICP EMU performance with monthly retail and auto sales in the EU. The consumer and the inflation are perhaps the two most critical variables watched by policy makers apart from job [...]

At today's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed funds rate was left unchanged in the range of 0.25%-0.50%, as expected. Economic growth projections were revised downward, however, from those developed for the last [...]

The Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions recovered in June much of its May deterioration. The New York index rose to 6.01 following its unrevised decline to -9.02. Twenty eight percent of respondents reported a [...]

Industrial output fell 0.4% during May (-1.4% y/y) following a 0.6% rise, revised from 0.7%. It was the third decline this year and left output 0.2% below December. No change in output had been expected in the Action Economics [...]

The headline Final Demand Producer Price Index increased 0.4% (-0.1% y/y) in May following an unrevised 0.2% April rise. A 0.3% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. A 2.8% gain in energy prices (-14.6% y/y) [...]

Trade in the EMU remains somewhat enigmatic. Exports and imports (of manufactured goods) are still quite soft over 12 months as well as over six months. But over the recent three months, exports have exploded to life as imports have [...]