Economy in Brief: March 2016

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index improved during March to 12.4 from an unrevised -2.8 in February. It was the first reading above break-even since August and the [...]

At today's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed funds rate was left unchanged in the range of 0.25% - 0.50%. The Fed again emphasized that "global economic and financial developments continue to pose risks." It also [...]

Industrial output declined 0.5% (-1.0% y/y) last month following a 0.8% increase during January, revised from 0.9%. A 0.3% decline had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The decline in oil prices pulled down output [...]

European car registrations rose by 9.1% in February and by 14.4% year-over-year marking another month of strong gains. The propensity for countries to post persistent gains in registrations has been rising as not only the strength of [...]

The Consumer Price Index fell an expected 0.2% during February (+1.0% y/y) following no change in January. A 6.0% decline (-12.5% y/y) in energy prices accounted for the bulk of the downward pressure. Excluding both food & energy, [...]

Housing starts jumped up 5.2% (30.9% y/y) in February to 1.178 million units at an annual rate. There were also upward revisions to both December and January figures, months in which starts had fallen. The February reading exceeded [...]

Total business inventories edged up 0.1% m/m (1.8% y/y) during January following no change in December, revised from 0.1%. Total business sales fell 0.4% m/m (-1.1% y/y), the fourth consecutive month of decline. Retail inventories [...]

Regular gasoline prices added to recent gains, and rose last week to $1.96 per gallon (-20.1% y/y) from $1.84 in the prior week. It was the highest price since mid-January, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The price [...]