Economy in Brief: May 2014

Wholesale sales jumped 1.4% (6.5% y/y) during March following February's 0.9% gain, last month set at 0.8%. Nondurable goods sales increased 1.5% (7.9% y/y) as farm product sales surged 6.0% (-0.4% y/y). Grocery product sales also [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that the job openings rate edged down to 2.8% during March from an unrevised 2.9% in February. The job openings rate is the number of job [...]

Japan's leading economic indicator fell to 106.5 in March from 108.7 in February. The indicator is now declining at a 19.1% annual rate over three months and a 6.8% annual rate over six months. Over 12 months the index is crawling [...]

German industrial production surprisingly fell by 0.5% in March. The drop follows a 0.6% gain in February and, while substantial, still allows strong growth in the first quarter. In the just-completed quarter to date, industrial [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 319,000 (-3.9% y/y) in the week ended May 3 from 345,000 in the week ended April 26, revised from 344,000. Expectations had been for 328,000 claims in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

Nonfarm business sector productivity fell at a 1.7% annual rate (+1.4% y/y) during Q1'14 following 2.3% growth during Q4, revised from last month's estimate of a 1.8% rise. Real output growth of 0.3% (3.2% y/y) was accompanied by a [...]

The Federal Reserve Board reported that consumer credit outstanding increased $17.5 billion during March following a $13.0 billion February gain, last month reported as $16.5 billion. The increase outpaced expectations for a $15.0 [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that their total Mortgage Market Volume Index improved 5.3% last week (-62.9% y/y) but remained in the sideways pattern of the last month. Applications remained two-thirds below the peak in [...]