Economy in Brief: August 2012

Industrial production gained 0.6% during July following a 0.1% June uptick, last month reported as 0.4%. A 0.5% increase had been expected. A steady 0.5% rise in factory output led last month's gain in production. July heat caused [...]

The Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions for August fell to -5.85, its lowest level since October. Consensus expectations had been for m/m stability at 7.0. Based on these figures, Haver Analytics calculates an [...]

Consumer prices were unchanged last month as they were in June. A 0.2% increase was expected. The year-to-year increase fell to 1.4%, down from its peak of 3.9% last September. A 0.1% increase (2.1% y/y) in prices less food & energy [...]

Flash Estimates of second quarter gross domestic product in the European Union and the Euro Area were released today and can be found in the data base, EUDATA. Both areas are expected to experience declines of 0.2% in the second [...]

Flash Estimates of second quarter gross domestic product in the European Union and the Euro Area were released today and can be found in the data base, EUDATA. Both areas are expected to experience declines of 0.2% in the second [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index slipped in July to 91.2 after an unrevised skid to 91.4 in June. The latest level remained the lowest since October. The percentage of [...]

The Euro crisis has led to a good deal of upward pressure on currencies outside the Euro Area. Euro Area citizens have rushed to exchange their Euros for currencies considered to be safe havens, notably the United States dollar, the [...]

The pump price of regular gasoline added another eight cents last week to its fourteen cent gain during the prior period. At $3.72 per gallon prices recently have risen 36 cents (10.9%) to the highest since the middle of May. Haver [...]