Economy in Brief: November 2011

Inventories at the wholesale level slipped 0.1% (+11.9% y/y) during September following a 0.1% August uptick. The decline was led by a 4.0% fall (+13.2% y/y) in petroleum. Less petroleum, inventories rose 0.1% (11.9%) as industry [...]

UK exports have suddenly stalled while imports continue to press ahead. With an export mix tilted heavily to Europe where growth is slowing sharply and to the US where the expansion has never really gotten on track, UK exports have [...]

Lower interest rates continued to have their effect on the mortgage market last week. The index of total mortgage applications jumped 10.3% to 734.3 (March 16, 1990 = 100) and recovered the October declines. Applications started this [...]

After Greece joined the Euro Area in 2001, five more countries entered the Area--Slovenia in 2007, Cyprus and Malta in 2008, Slovakia in 2009 and Estonia in 2011. Little has been said about these five since the crisis in Greece has [...]

The job market is on the mend as job openings and hires rise. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that the September job openings rate rose m/m to 2.5%. The latest reading was [...]

Divergent movement underscores recent trends in energy prices. The pump price for regular gasoline fell three cents last week to $3.42 per gallon. Prices remained down versus May when they averaged $3.91. Retail prices usually start [...]

The consumer still has an inclination to spend. That's the message from last week's 1.0% increase in chain stores sales which added to the prior week's 0.7% gain. Regardless, sales remain 3.0% below the July peak. During the last ten [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business indicated that its October index of small business optimism rose to 90.2 from an unrevised 88.9 in September. Improvement in firms' expectations for the economy and sales was accompanied [...]