Economy in Brief

Last week's report that factory sector output fell again in April helps shed light on the recent weakness in industrial commodity prices. The Industrial Materials Price Index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic [...]

Every picture tells a story was we well know. And it is said that a picture can be worth a thousand words (sometimes more). In that vein (although I will not stop writing), the chart speaks very loudly and carries some unusual [...]

The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators increased 0.2% (2.7% y/y) during April following a 0.3% March gain, revised from 0.4%. The rise matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The [...]

The European Monetary Area logged a smaller trade surplus in March as it fell to 17.9 billion euros from 20.6 billion euros in February. One year ago, the surplus stood at 20.6 billion euros. Exports slowed to a 0.9% gain month-to- [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance declined 2,000 to 228,000 (+8.1% year-on-year) during the week ended May 4 Continuing claims for unemployment insurance rose 13,000 to 1.684 million (-5.8% y/y) in the week ending April 27 [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index increased to 16.6 during May after falling to 8.5 in April. It was the highest index level since January. A reading of 9.5 had [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell 16,000 to 212,000 (-4.1% year-on-year) during the week ended May 11 from an unrevised reading of 228,000 in the previous week. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected a smaller [...]

Housing starts rose 5.7% during April to 1.235 million units (SAAR) following a March improvement to 1.168 million units, revised from a slight m/m decline. Despite the latest increase, housing starts were 2.5% lower than one year [...]