Economy in Brief: May 2018

Initial unemployment insurance claims were steady w/w at 211,000 (-11.6% y/y) in the week ending May 5. Claims were expected to rise to 219,000 in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The four-week moving average declined to 216,000, [...]

Consumer prices increased 0.2% (2.5% y/y) during April following a 0.1% March slip. A 0.3% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The CPI excluding food & energy improved 0.1% (2.1% y/y) after two months [...]

Wholesale trade inventories increased 0.3% (5.8 y/y) during March following a 0.9% February gain, revised from 1.0%. The March rise matched the increase reported in the advance report released on April 26 and also was below market [...]

Manufacturing industrial output among eight early reporting EMU members (plus Sweden and Norway) showed only two declines in the group in March. IP edged lower by 0.1% in the Netherlands and Norway. Everywhere else in the table there [...]

The headline Final Demand Producer Price Index using new methodology edged 0.1% higher (2.6% y/y) during April following an unrevised 0.3% rise in March. A 0.2% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate increased to 4.2% in March from an unrevised 3.9% in February. (The job openings rate is the job openings level as a percent of total employment plus the job [...]

German exports reversed a three-month slide to a 1.7% rise in March. Still, German exports are ‘not out of the woods.’ They have fallen month to month is five of the last seven months. The chart shows that exports are having a weak [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) indicated that its Small Business Optimism Index stood at 104.8 for April, 104.7 in March and was fairly stable y/y. The level of optimism hit a 35-year high in February. A net [...]