Economy in Brief: 2012

Euro-area industrial production (IP) rose by 0.9% m/m in March. It is still lower by 1.3% y/y but is sequentially cutting its losses and is up over three months at a 1.6% annual rate. The output of consumer durable goods and [...]

The German HICP rose by 0.2% in April compared to March. It is up at a 2.2% pace Yr/Yr and that is less than the 2.3% pace of last month. At 2.2% the rate of change is closing in on the Bundesbank's desired ceiling rate of 2% and of [...]

The University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment for mid-May rose to 77.8 from 76.4 in April. The gain was to the highest level since January 2008 and compared to expectations for a slip to 76.0. The reading of current [...]

The producer price index for finished goods fell 0.2% during April following an unrevised no-change in March. Consensus expectations were for prices to remain unchanged. Core pricing power continued to firm with the economy's [...]

The OECD ratio LEI indices for March show that the US Japan Spain and China have readings that are above their trends (ratio to trend index exceeds unity). For EMU the ratio is below unity but it is the same as it was in February at [...]

U.S. import prices fell 0.5% during April after a 1.5% March rise, initially pegged as 1.3%. A 0.2% dip had been expected. The year-to-year increase in import prices decelerated to 0.5%, as oil prices declined. Petroleum prices fell [...]

The U.S. foreign trade deficit during March widened to $51.8B from $45.4B in February, revised from $46.0B. Expectations were for a deficit of $50.0B. Exports increased 2.9% (7.3% y/y) but imports jumped 5.2% (8.4% y/y). In chained [...]

The job market remains on the road to modest recovery. Initial unemployment insurance claims ticked down last week to 367,000 from 368,000 during the prior week, earlier reported as 365,000. Consensus expectations were for 370,000 [...]