Economy in Brief: May 2016

Total retail sales & spending at restaurants increased 1.3% (3.0% y/y) during April following a 0.3% decline, unrevised from the preliminary report. The rise compared to expectations for a 0.8% improvement in the Action Economics [...]

The labor market is under pressure. Initial claims for unemployment insurance jumped to 294,000 (7.8% y/y) during the week ended May 7, after rising to an unrevised 274,000 in the prior week. It was the highest level of claims since [...]

EMU economic data continues to show spotty results. Industrial production for the euro area in March is now tabulated, showing a drop of 0.8%. Output is still higher in the quarter even after two straight months of IP declines because [...]

Import prices increased 0.3% during April (-5.7% y/y) following a 0.3% March rise, revised from 0.2%. The increase was softer than the 0.6% gain expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. These figures are not seasonally [...]

The U.S. Treasury Department reported a $106.5 billion budget surplus during April of 2016, smaller than the $156.7 billion surplus twelve months earlier. A $112.5 billion deficit had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index nudged 0.4% higher last week (18.9% y/y) following a 3.4% decline. Purchase applications also improved 0.4% (14.0% y/y) after little change in the [...]

U.K. manufacturing industrial production rose by 0.1% in March as it fell at a 2% annual rate in Q1 2016. IP gained in March wholly on the back of capital equipment as consumer durables and nondurables output fell and intermediate [...]

Inventories at the wholesale level nudged 0.1% higher (0.2% y/y) during March following a 0.6% decline in February, revised from -0.5%. Nondurable goods sector inventories rose 0.5% (4.6% y/y) as petroleum inventories increased 3.3% [...]