Economy in Brief: March 2018

The National Federation of Independent Business indicated that its Small Business Optimism Index for February increased 0.7% to 107.6 (2.2% y/y) following a 1.9% January rise. The level of optimism was the highest since 1983. A higher [...]

Price inflation for both goods & services moderated last month. The Consumer Price Index gained 0.2% (2.2% y/y) in February following a 0.5% January rise. The index excluding food and energy prices increased 0.2% (1.8% y/y) after a [...]

The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the federal government ran a $215.2 billion budget deficit during February 2018. A deficit of $216.0 billion had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. During the first five [...]

Japan's Cabinet Office survey backtracked in Q1 2018 with the business conditions index for large firms overall falling back to 3.3 in Q1 from 6.2 in Q4. The bellwether large manufacturing firm index fell to 2.9 from 9.7. This survey [...]

German industrial production edged down 0.1% in January, marking the second monthly drop in a row. However, none of the sector components have dropped twice in a row and the three-month growth rate for total IP is at a 9.1% annual [...]

Wholesale trade inventories increased 0.8% during January (5.0% y/y) following a 0.7% December gain, revised from 0.4%. In the advance report issued on February 27, wholesale inventories were reported up 1.0% m/m in January. Durable [...]

The job market continues to improve. Nonfarm payrolls rose 313,000 (1.6% y/y) during February, the strongest monthly increase since July 2016. It followed a 239,000 January gain and a 175,000 December rise. Together these two figures [...]

The job market continues to improve. Nonfarm payrolls rose 313,000 (1.6% y/y) during February, the strongest monthly increase since July 2016. It followed a 239,000 January gain and a 175,000 December rise. Together these two figures [...]