Economy in Brief: July 2018

European car registrations rose by 0.4% in June, a much slower pace than the 5.7% gain in May. Still, over three months, registrations are fading. Over six months, registrations have a strong 14.9% gain. But over 12 months, a [...]

Retail gasoline prices edged up to $2.87 per gallon last week (+25.8% y/y) from $2.86 per gallon during the prior week. Prices have ranged between $2.80 and $2.96 since the middle of April. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting [...]

Total business inventories increased 0.4% (4.4% y/y) during May following a 0.3% April increase. Total business sales strengthened 1.4% (8.6% y/y), following a 0.6% gain. The inventory-to-sales ratio slipped to 1.34. It peaked early [...]

Consumers continued spending last month, but at a moderated pace. Total retail sales increased 0.5% during June following a 1.3% May increase, revised from 0.8%. The 6.6% y/y increase was, however, the strongest since February 2012. [...]

The graph tells a clear story of what trade trends are up to. Both exports and imports have been losing momentum. The trade surplus has been under a trend of gradual but steady reduction. Year-on-year manufacturing exports are up by [...]

The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions decreased to 22.6 in July, from an eight-month high of 25.0 in June. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected a 21.0 reading. These data, reported by the Federal [...]

Import prices declined 0.4% during June (+4.3%) following a 0.9% rise in May, which was revised from 0.6%. A 0.1% uptick had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. These figures are not seasonally adjusted. Weakness in [...]

French retail sales rebounded in June after falling for two consecutive months. Gains earlier in the year in the February and March were quite strong, but April brought a deep decline; May sales were lower- but essentially flat- and [...]