Economy in Brief: August 2010

As spending on motor vehicles changes, so too does spending on gasoline. That probably overstates the case, but last month an expected 0.4% increase in total retail sales was driven by a 1.6% increase in motor vehicles and a 2.3% gain [...]

Europe surges - EMU GDP is advancing at a super-strong 3.9% rate (Saar) in Q2 leaving the US growth rate of 2.4% (and due to be revised lower...) in the dust. But at 3.2% the US Yr/Yr rate still towers over the EMU rate of 1.7%. But [...]

Not-with-standing a moderate blip in energy prices, consumer price inflation remained under control last month. The July Consumer Price Index increased 0.3% (1.3% y/y) following three consecutive months of slight decline. During the [...]

Euro-Area IP ending a period of acceleration? Euro-Area IP is not exactly sputtering but it is stabilizing and showing signs of settling into a lower perhaps sustainable growth path. The three month growth rate has been jerking around [...]

With a 0.2% July increase, U.S. import prices recovered just a piece of the prior two months' sharp decline. Moreover, the y/y gain fell to its least since November while May's 0.8% m/m drop was deepened from 0.5%. July's increase was [...]

The bad news about the labor market continued today. The Labor Department's report that initial claims for jobless insurance rose to 484,000 last week from an upwardly revised 482,000 brought them to the highest level since February. [...]

Last week, Haver's Louise Curley focused on the sustained strength in wheat prices (+45.6% y/y). The broader product trend shows that most industrial commodity prices recently have either recovered or stabilized after earlier [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that their latest reading of labor market conditions held steady after earlier deterioration. The Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) indicated that the job openings rate during June [...]