Economy in Brief: 2012

The sector array of up-minus-down diffusion readings shows only one negative sector for Germany in April. And this is with a new crisis swirling around the Euro Area. The far right column arrays the readings in the table Vs their [...]

As different as we think that Germany and Italy are their industrial orders have been behaving remarkably similarly. The correlation between German and Italian orders over the past nine years is 0.91 on Y/Y percentage changes (or if [...]

Sales of existing homes fell 2.6% last month to a 4.480 annual rate (+5.2% y/y) from a revised 4.600M during February, last month reported as 4.590M. Despite the decline, sales remained near the highest since May 2010. Sales of [...]

The Leading Economic Indicator index from the Conference Board rose 0.3% last month after an unrevised 0.7% gain during February. A 0.2% increase had been expected. Last month a robust 70% of the series' components rose. That compares [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's General Business Conditions Index slipped last month to 8.5 from 12.5 in March. Nevertheless, positive numbers for the last seven months indicate expansion in activity. The latest reading was [...]

Improvement in the labor market has slowed. That's the message from the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Initial claims for unemployment insurance slipped just 2,000 to 386,000 from an upwardly revised 388,000 [...]

Improvement in the labor market has slowed. That's the message from the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Initial claims for unemployment insurance slipped just 2,000 to 386,000 from an upwardly revised 388,000 [...]

The trends in EMU show the 17 country Euro Area current account deficit swinging widely first to a surplus and now plunging to a deficit. It is no longer clear if there is an improving trend in train or not. Goods imports are out [...]