Economy in Brief: February 2017

Consumer credit outstanding increased $14.2 billion during December following a little-revised $25.2 billion November gain. A $20.0 billion increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Full-year growth in [...]

German industrial output fell sharply and unexpectedly at the end of 2016 as output declined by 3% month-to-month in December. Both construction and manufacturing output fell by 3% or more in December. Widespread declines There were [...]

The total job openings rate of 3.6% during December was lower than 3.7% in November. Nevertheless, the rate for all of last year remained steady at 3.6%. These rates remained down from the record high of 3.9% in July. The private- [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services narrowed at year-end, but deepened slightly in all of last year. The December deficit fell to $44.3 billion from $45.7 billion during November, revised from $45.2 billion. A $45.0 billion [...]

Germany's real order volume surged by 5.2% as German domestic orders spurted by 6.7% month-to-month and foreign orders rebounded to gain 3.9%. Orders have come to show huge changes in recent months as the 6.7% domestic gain in [...]

The Labor Market Conditions Index (LMCI) from the Federal Reserve Board includes 19 indicators of labor market activity, covering the broad categories of unemployment and underemployment. These include jobs, workweeks, wages, [...]

Manufacturing sector orders increased 1.3% during December (2.0% y/y) following a 2.3% November decline. Durable goods orders eased 0.5% (-0.7% y/y). Transportation sector orders fell 2.5% (-5.7% y/y) with a 64.0% plunge in defense [...]

The global PMI services gauges show that both manufacturing and services are on an upswing globally. The global services sector has a 76th percentile standing. The global total PMI gauge had an 86th percentile standing in January. [...]