Economy in Brief: February 2014

The figures referenced above are available in Haver's USECON database. Additional detail can be found in the LABOR and in the EMPL databases. The expectation figures are from Action Economics and are in the AS1REPNA database.

The Federal Reserve Board reported that consumer credit outstanding increased $18.8 billion (6.2% y/y) during December following a little revised $12.4 billion November gain. It was the largest monthly increase since February and left [...]

Nonfarm payrolls grew 113,000 (1.7% y/y) during January following gains of 75,000 and 274,000 during the prior two months, initially reported as 74,000 and 241,000. The rise disappointed expectations for a 185,000 increase. Earlier [...]

Germany, already with the largest current account surplus in the world, has posted a barely smaller trade surplus in December compared to November. In December both exports and imports shrank, with exports falling a bit faster. Year- [...]

Nonfarm payrolls grew 113,000 (1.7% y/y) during January following gains of 75,000 and 274,000 during the prior two months, initially reported as 74,000 and 241,000. The rise disappointed expectations for a 185,000 increase. The [...]

Nonfarm business sector productivity grew 3.2% last quarter (1.7% y/y) following its 3.6% Q3 rise. The gain beat the 2.5% expectation in the Action Economics survey. For all of last year productivity rose 0.6%, down from the 1.5% rise [...]

The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that job cut announcements increased to 45,017 (11.6% y/y) during January and reversed the prior month's decline. Layoffs increased m/m the retail, financial, [...]

The U.S. foreign trade deficit deteriorated to $38.7 billion during December compared to a revised $34.6 billion in November, last month reported as $33.4 billion. A $36.0 billion deficit had been expected in the Action Economics [...]