Economy in Brief: April 2015

Gasoline prices remained stable last week at $2.41 cents per gallon, down by roughly one-third versus a year ago. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in pump prices. The seasonally adjusted price [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported a March reading of 95.2 for its Small Business Optimism Index versus an unrevised 98.0 during February. The figure was its lowest since June of last year. Movement in the [...]

The overall Final Demand Producer Price Index increased 0.2% during March (-0.8% y/y) following an unrevised 0.5% February decline. A 0.1% uptick was expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Prices excluding food & energy [...]

The weather improved last month so shoppers exercised their wallets. Overall retail sales including food services & drinking places during March increased 0.9% (1.3% y/y) following three straight months of decline. A 1.0% increase had [...]

European Monetary Union (EMU) industrial production (excluding construction) rose a smart 1.1% in February, its strongest gain in eight months. Manufacturing output rose by 1.2%, its strongest gain in eight months as well. Still, [...]

The Federal Government reported a $52.9 billion budget deficit during March compared to a $36.9 billion deficit during March of 2014. A deficit of $43.0 billion had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. For the first [...]

The industrial commodity price index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) improved roughly 2.0% during the last eight weeks reflecting broad-based improvement amongst several industrial sectors. [...]

Japan is still a struggling economy that has tried various measures to jump start growth while also trying to regain fiscal control. The combination has been frustrating and that frustration continues as retail sales creep higher in [...]