Economy in Brief: November 2017

The Consumer Price Index edged up 0.1% m/m (2.0% y/y) in October, exactly in line with the market's expectation from the Action Economics survey. The overall index had jumped a much larger-than-expected 0.5% m/m in September. The core [...]

Total retail sales and spending at restaurants edged 0.2% higher (4.6% y/y) during October following a 1.9% September jump, revised from 1.6%. A 0.1% uptick had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Much of the [...]

Retail gasoline prices rose three cents last week to $2.59 per gallon (18.7% y/y). It was the highest level in seven weeks, but still below the early-September high of $2.69 per gallon. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index rose to 103.8 during October following a September decline to 103.0. The figure remained below its January high of 105.9, but increased [...]

The headline Final Demand Producer Price Index using new methodology increased 0.4% during October, the same as in September. These remain the strongest gains since April and pulled the y/y rise to 2.8%, the strongest since February [...]

The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the federal government ran a $63.2 billion budget deficit during October compared to a $45.8 billion deficit in October 2016. A deficit of $49.0 billion had been expected in the Action [...]

The Industrial Materials Price Index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) slipped 1.4% during the last four weeks, but gained 11.5% in the last twelve months. The latest index level of 159.45 [...]

Inventories at the wholesale level increased 0.3% during September (4.6% y/y) following a 0.8% August gain, revised from 0.9%. During the last three months, inventories have risen at a 7.5% annual rate, up from little change January [...]