Economy in Brief

The employment cost index (ECI) for civilian workers rose 0.7% in Q1'19 following a 0.7% Q4'18 gain. The gain matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The increase left y/y compensation growth at 2.8%, up from its [...]

The employment cost index (ECI) for civilian workers rose 0.7% in Q1'19 following a 0.7% Q4'18 gain. The gain matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The increase left y/y compensation growth at 2.8%, up from its [...]

The Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer fell in April for the second consecutive month--to 52.6 from 58.7 in March and 64.7 in February. This is the lowest reading since January 2017. The Action Economics Forecast Survey [...]

Retail gasoline prices increased five cents last week to $2.89 per gallon (1.4% y/y) after rising one penny during the prior week. It was the highest level since early-October. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the [...]

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) estimated that Q1 real GDP rose 3.2% annualized, advancing almost a full percentage point above the consensus estimate of 2.3%. The headline gain in real GDP proved to be a big surprise, but the [...]

The EU Commission indexes fell relatively sharply in April, dropping 1.6 points month-to-month and shedding 7.3 point over 12 months. The 12-month drop is the largest of its kind since the index fell by 8.3 points in November 2012. [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported in its Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey that the General Business Activity Index declined to 2.0 during April and added to its March retreat. Nevertheless, the index remained well above [...]

Consumer spending strengthened during March at the expense of savings account balances. Personal consumption expenditures surged 0.9% (4.4% y/y) following a 0.1% February uptick and a 0.3% January rise, revised from 0.1%. It was the [...]