Economy in Brief: 2012

German orders are making an attempt at stability. Orders are up for the second month in a row for the first time since June of 2011. The one-month gain in March is a solid 2.2% rise. Foreign orders are driving the monthly result with [...]

Consumer credit outstanding returned to the fast growth track during March. It increased $21.3B (AR) following a $9.3B February gain, initially reported as $8.7B. A $10.0B increase had been expected by Action Economics. It raised [...]

German orders are making an attempt at stability. Orders are up for the second month in a row for the first time since June of 2011. The one-month gain in March is a solid 2.2% rise. Foreign orders are driving the monthly result with [...]

Euro-Area Retail sales are up by 0.3% in March and are accelerating over three months compared to six months. Motor vehicle registrations rebounded in March after a plunge February that followed a disaster in January. Their growth [...]

Nonfarm payrolls grew a disappointing 115,000 (1.4% y/y) last month. The rise followed a 154,000 March increase and a 259,000 February gain which both were revised up from 120,000 and 240,000, respectively. The latest increase was [...]

The outplacement firm of Challenger, Grey & Christmas reported that job cut announcements rose slightly during April to 40,559. However, they remained near the recovery's low. Announcements remained low in the apparel, construction, [...]

The Composite Index for the service and construction sectors from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) fell to 53.5 in April versus an unrevised 56.0 during March. Declines during the last two months pulled the figure to its [...]

The job market picture brightened significantly last week. Initial unemployment insurance claims fell sharply to 365,000 from an upwardly revised 392,000 during the prior week, earlier reported as 388,000. The latest figure reversed [...]