Economy in Brief

Germany's industrial production is lower across all sectors in April. It is also falling across all sectors over three months, over six months and over 12 months. Headline as well as manufacturing IP for Germany shows that IP is [...]

Wholesale inventories increased 0.8% in April (7.6% year-over-year), following no change in March (revised up from a 0.1% decline). The Informa Global Markets Survey anticipated a 0.7% rise. Wholesale inventory swings can have a [...]

The labor market weakened during May. Nonfarm payrolls increased 75,000 (1.5% y/y) following a 224,000 April rise, revised from 263,000. The March increase also was revised lower to 153,000 from 189,000. The May rise in payrolls fell [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened more than expected in May to $55.5 billion from an upwardly revised $51.2 billion in April (originally $50.8 billion). The consensus expectation from the Action Economics Survey was [...]

The labor market remains historically quite robust. Initial claims for unemployment insurance were unchanged at 218,000 in week ended June 1 (the previous week’s reading was revised up slightly from 215,000) and remain around their [...]

Output per hour in the nonfarm business sector grew 3.4% (SAAR) during Q1'19, revised from 3.6% reported last month. The increase followed an unrevised 1.3% gain in Q4'18. It remained the strongest increase since Q3'14. During the [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services eased during April to $50.8 billion from $51.9 in March, revised from $50.0 billion. Expectations had been for a $50.7 billion deficit in the Action Economics Survey. Exports declined 2.2% [...]

Germany's real new orders rose by 0.3% in April, marking the second monthly rise in a row as orders rose by 0.8% in March. Orders last rose two months in a row in September-October of 2018. A rebound- but still weak While this news is [...]