Economy in Brief: June 2012

On Tuesday of last week, the Reserve Bank of Australia lowered its cash target rate twenty-five basis points to 3.5% after having reduced the rate fifty basis points just the month before. On the next day, Australia reported that its [...]

Less liquidity, weakness in the global economy and increased competition have taken a toll on international pricing power. U.S. import prices matched expectations and fell 1.0% during May following no-change in April, initially pegged [...]

Consumers' inclination to visit the mall has diminished of late. Chain store sales declined 0.7% last week (+2.9% y/y) to the lowest level in two months. Sales in June are 3.8% below the high April average. During the last ten years [...]

They've been falling now for two months. Last week, the pump price of regular gasoline again declined four cents to $3.57 per gallon. Since early April prices have fallen thirty seven cents (-9.4%) and they've retraced roughly one- [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its May Small Business Optimism Index slipped to 94.4 from an unrevised 94.5 in April. The latest level remained near the economic recovery high of last February. The [...]

The Central bank of China reduced its benchmark, one year lending rate 25 basis points to 6.31% and its one year deposit rate to 3.25% on June 7th. This was the first rate decrease since 2008. In the past few years, while inflation [...]

A loss of forward economic momentum in industrial countries, worldwide, has prompted notable commodity price declines across categories. At 163.7, the latest price index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic [...]

The Euro-Area may be heading for the final summer of its discontent. Pictured above we show deteriorating French business confidence, as depicted in the survey from the Bank of France. The Bank of France also has formed a new outlook [...]