Economy in Brief: March 2012

The National Federation of Independent Business indicated that its February index of small business optimism was 94.3 versus 93.9 in January. The latest was the highest in a year and the best since December 2007. The percentage of [...]

Recent labor market improvement hesitated as indicated by the slip in the January job openings rate. The figure slipped to 2.5% from the recovery's high of 2.6%. The figures in the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings & Labor [...]

Retail sales jumped 1.1% (6.5% y/y) during February following upwardly revised gains of 0.6% and 0.3% during the prior two months. The improvement about matched Consensus expectations for a 1.1% rise according to Action Economics. The [...]

Retail sales jumped 1.1% (6.5% y/y) during February following upwardly revised gains of 0.6% and 0.3% during the prior two months. The improvement about matched Consensus expectations for a 1.1% rise according to Action Economics. The [...]

China's exports of goods declined a record $28 billion in February and imports increased $14.4 billion leaving the country with a $19.3 billion trade deficit, the largest in recent history and $42.2 billion larger than the deficit in [...]

During February, the Federal Government ran a budget deficit of $231.7B, according to figures released by the U.S. Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget. So far this fiscal year, the deficit totaled $580.8B, down from [...]

The U.S. foreign trade deficit in January widened to $52.6B versus $50.4B in December, revised from $48.8B. Expectations had been for a January deficit of $49.0B, according to Action Economics. Exports rose 1.4% (7.7% y/y) but imports [...]

Trade flows typically grow faster than GDP. As world trade expands and the emphasis on reducing trade barriers has been a dominate theme, imports across most countries continue to rise relative to GDP. A slowing in imports is an [...]