Economy in Brief: 2008

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in the Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that for May, the number of job openings rose 0.4% from April. The rise followed April's 1.6% drop after declines during most of the prior [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in the Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that for May, the number of job openings rose 0.4% from April. The rise followed April's 1.6% drop after declines during most of the prior [...]

The weakness in German industrial output is spreading and cumulating. Consumer goods output is off by 4% Yr/Yr a strong drop for an inflation adjusted series. Capital goods and intermediates goods output are still up Yr/Yr but are [...]

The second quarter British Chambers of Commerce (BBC) Quarterly Economic Survey presents a grim picture. Appraisals of domestic sales and orders and cash flow by both manufacturers and service providers show that pessimists now [...]

The International Council of Shopping Centers reported that chain store sales nudged up another 0.2% last week after the 0.1% uptick during the prior period. The level of sales early this month was even with the June average after [...]

The National Association of Realtors reported that the level of pending sales of existing homes in May fell by 4.7% and reversed most of the 7.1% April gain. That was upwardly revised. The decline exceeded Consensus expectations for a [...]

The retail price for a gallon of regular gasoline ticked up one penny last week to $4.11 per gallon, according to the U.S. Department of Energy survey. For all grades of gasoline the average price also rose two cents to an average [...]

Small business optimism, according to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), was about unchanged in June but, at 88.2, the index remained near the lowest level since January 1975, its second lowest level on record. [...]