Economy in Brief

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services declined to $43.09 billion during November..... The international trade data, including relevant data on oil prices, can be found in Haver's USECON database. Detailed figures on [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services increased to $48.88 billion in December from $43.69 billion in November, revised from $43.09 billion. A $48.0 billion deficit had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]

The Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Activity from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) increased to 55.5 during January from 54.9 in December, revised from 55.0. It was the highest level since August but remained below [...]

The ADP National Employment Report indicated that private nonfarm payrolls increased 291,000 (1.5% y/y) during January following a 199,000 December gain, revised from 202,000. It was the largest increase in roughly five years and [...]

The gain in the PPI in December on rising oil prices will find oil much lower in January as the coronavirus struck globally and as Brent and WTI prices have fallen. As a result, the trend in this report are likely to be blunted in the [...]

Factory orders increased 1.8% (-0.4% y/y) during December following a 1.2% November decline, revised from -0.7% m/m. A 1.2% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Durable goods orders surged 2.4% (-3.6% y/y, [...]

Retail gasoline prices fell to $2.46 per gallon (+8.9% y/y) in the week ended February 3 from $2.51 per gallon in the previous week. This was the fourth consecutive weekly decline and the lowest price since March 2019. Haver Analytics [...]

The Autodata Corporation reported that sales of light vehicles during January edged 1.1% higher (2.0% y/y) to 17.05 million units (SAAR) from 16.87 million in December. During the last three months, sales averaged 17.00 million units, [...]