Economy in Brief: 2019

The Producer Price Index for final demand rose 0.1% during June (1.7% y/y) for the second straight month. The rise matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Producer prices excluding food & energy increased 0.3% [...]

The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the federal government ran an $8.5 billion budget deficit during June compared to a $74.9 billion deficit one year earlier. A $6.4 billion deficit had been expected in the Action Economics [...]

The chart makes the point best on the problem of how to interpret the trends for inflation in the largest EMU nations. Going back to 2014 or 2016, we find inflation has been rising across all the countries in the chart. From about [...]

Overall retail pricing power remained muted last month, but strength emerged in core prices. The Consumer Price Index edged 0.1% higher (1.6% y/y) during June, the same as it did in May. These remained the smallest increases since [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance decreased 13,000 to 209,000 (-1.4% year-on-year) during the week ending July 6 from a slightly upwardly-revised reading of 222,000 in the previous week (was 221,000). While this is the lowest [...]

Wholesale inventories increased 0.4% (7.7% y/y) during May following an unrevised 0.8% April gain. A 0.4% rise was expected in the Informa Global Markets Survey. Durable goods inventories increased 0.3% (10.8% y/y) in May after a 0.9% [...]

In May among reporting EMU members listed in the table, four show IP declines while five show increases month-to-month. In April there were five declines and in March the bottom fell out and seven declined. Output trends have [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Index fell 2.4% (+34.2% y/y) during the week ending July 5 after the prior week's 0.1% dip. The decline reflected a 6.5% drop (+87.8% y/y) in applications [...]