Economy in Brief: February 2020

• Import prices were unchanged in January as a 2.2% m/m drop in fuel prices offset a modest rise in nonfuel prices. • In contrast, export prices unexpectedly surged 0.7% m/m, the largest monthly increase since last March, led by a [...]

Total retail sales including food service establishments increased 0.3% (4.4% y/y) during January following a 0.2% December gain, revised from 0.3%. The increase matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Retail [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell 15,000 to 202,000 (-11.8% y/y) during the week ended February 1....... Continuing claims for unemployment insurance in the week ended January 25 increased to 1.751 million (2.1% [...]

The euro area unemployment has been dropping and is now low by its own historic standard, but the unemployment rate varies considerably across the monetary union. The unemployment rate did tick lower in December as France logged a [...]

The Consumer Price Index edged up minimally during January. The 0.1% uptick followed two months of 0.2% increase. A 0.2% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Despite the weak yearend showing, the 2.5% y/y [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose 2,000 to 205,000 (-11.3% y/y) during the week ended February 8 from 203,000 in the prior week, revised from 202,000. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 210,000 initial claims. [...]

The Congressional Budget Office projects that the U.S. government will run a deficit between 4.6% to 5.4% of GDP for the next ten years. The current budget picture already has worsened. The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the [...]

EMU industrial production is under pressure. Output fell by 2.1% in December after being flat in November. The last increase in IP month-to-month was in August of last year. Output is falling at rates of growth that have gotten [...]