Economy in Brief: June 2017

The Consumer Price Index eased 0.1% during May (1.9% y/y) following a 0.2% April rise. Expectations had been for no change in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Consumer prices excluding food & energy ticked 0.1% higher for a [...]

Industrial output in the EMU gained 0.5% in April after a 0.2% increase in March. Sequential growth rates show growth and do not signal any new growth trend. But in the quarter-to-date, IP (IP excluding construction) is advancing at a [...]

Business sales continued their modest cooldown in April after their stellar performance at the end of 2016. Sales were unchanged (5.6% y/y) in April from March following a downwardly revised 0.1% decline in March. For the major [...]

Total retail sales and spending at restaurants fell 0.3% during May (+6.0% y/y) following an unrevised 0.4% April rise. A 0.1% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Sales at motor vehicle & parts [...]

Regular gasoline prices dipped to $2.37 per gallon last week (-1.4% y/y), the lowest level in four weeks. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in gasoline pump prices. Since prices normally rise this [...]

The way things are... The ZEW survey shows that the current rated economic situations in June improved everywhere except in the U.S. and the U.K. The absolute readings still show negative readings for Italy and France despite their [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index held at 104.5 during May. The index remained up 11.4% from the level of 93.8 in May 2016. An increased 39% of firms reported that they [...]

The headline Final Demand Producer Price Index remained stable during May following a 0.5% April gain. The y/y increase was firm at 2.4%. Expectations also were for no change in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The PPI excluding [...]