Economy in Brief

The Consumer Price Index increased an expected 0.4% during March following a 0.2% February rise. It was the largest monthly increase since January 2018. The 1.9% y/y increase compared to a 2.9% y/y high last July. The CPI excluding [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate declined to 4.5% during February, its lowest level since March 2018. The job openings rate is the job openings level as a percent of total employment plus the [...]

Italian retail sales ticked higher in February, rising by 0.1% after a 0.6% January gain. Still, retail performance is poor with nominal sales up by less than 1% over 12 months (0.9%) and dead flat over both six months and three [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) reported that its Small Business Optimism Index of 101.8 during March was basically unchanged from February, but remained down sharply from its August peak of 108.8. The index [...]

Retail gasoline prices increased to $2.75 per gallon last week (1.9% year-on-year), the highest level since early November 2018. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in gasoline pump prices. The [...]

The OECD leading indicators are barometers of economic activity; they are available for a broad set of countries. These indicators show declining LEI values on a broad array of countries and regions with a time series of weakness in [...]

Manufacturers' orders declined 0.5% (+1.5% y/y) during February following little change during January, revised from 0.1%. A 0.1% uptick in orders had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Orders for durable goods [...]

The Fed has a problem; politics has invaded its policy turf. Criticism by President Trump over the Federal Reserve decisions to hike official rates has now escalated to an even higher level as the Administration's top economic advisor [...]