Economy in Brief

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened more than expected to $59.77 billion in December from an upwardly revised $50.30 billion in November. This was the largest deficit since October 2008. The Action Economics Forecast [...]

The Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Activity from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) rose more than expected to 59.7 in February. This followed two consecutive monthly declines. While suggestive of strong growth, the [...]

The U.S. Treasury Department reported a federal government budget surplus of $8.7 billion during January compared to a $49.2 billion surplus during January 2018. A $6.0 billion surplus had been expected in the Action Economics [...]

New home sales increased 3.7% to 621,000 during December following a November increase to 599,000, revised from 657,000. It was the highest level of sales in six months. During all of 2018, new home sales increased 0.9% to 621,000, [...]

PMI data for February show the services sector is firming in the EMU and in three of the four largest EMU members. China shows services sector deterioration and flips the switch on sector weakness and strength. In the EMU, both [...]

The Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Activity from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) rose more than expected to 59.7 in February. This followed two consecutive monthly declines. While suggestive of strong growth, the [...]

The retail price for gasoline rose to $2.42 per gallon last week (-5.4% y/y), the fourth consecutive week of increase. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in gasoline pump prices. The seasonally- [...]

Composite or total economy indexes show pronounced weakness in February when the bottom seems to fall out in China and in Hong Kong as weakness permeates many other countries. However, the picture is still foggy since there are also [...]