Economy in Brief: March 2013

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its February Small Business Optimism Index rose for the third straight month. However, the advance in the seasonally adjusted index to 90.8 from 88.9 in January still left [...]

The near-term employment environment should maintain its recent strength, according to Manpower, Inc. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the hiring index did slip to 11, but that left the 2013 outlook average up from 2012. On a not [...]

German imports jumped more sharply than exports in January suppressing the German trade surplus. Still, the trend for that surplus is rising as export growth has been exceeding import growth for nearly one year. Import growth at 2.3% [...]

Since 1990, diffusion indexes of payroll employment have moved with the change in overall employment. Therefore, recent moderate payroll gains are well-grounded. For private nonfarm production industries, 63.3% added to payrolls last [...]

If the e-Zone trade numbers are telling, and I think that they are, EMU is going nowhere fast. Exports across categories have fallen in EMU in December. The growth rates show export growth getting increasingly weaker over shorter [...]

The rate of job market improvement picked up a bit last month. Payroll employment gained 236,000 (1.5% y/y) after a 119,000 January increase (revised from 157,000) and a 219,000 December rise (revised from 196,000). Consensus had been [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 340,000 (-9.1% y/y) during the week ended March 2 versus 347,000 a week earlier (revised from 344,000). Consensus expectations were for 355,000 claims. The four week moving average of [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 340,000 (-9.1% y/y) during the week ended March 2 versus 347,000 a week earlier (revised from 344,000). Consensus expectations were for 355,000 claims. The four week moving average of [...]