Economy in Brief: June 2017

The U.S. Treasury Department reported that during May, the federal government ran an $88.4 billion budget deficit compared to a $52.5 billion deficit in May 2016. An $87.0 billion deficit had been expected in the Action Economics [...]

Over the last 10 years, Japan's PPI has had a nice tracking relationship with Japan's CPI. Of course, the PPI is more volatile than CPI inflation, with PPI inflation rising faster than CPI inflation when inflation is rising and [...]

Inventories at the wholesale level fell 0.5% during April following a 0.1% March uptick, revised from 0.2%. It was the second decline in the last four months, and halved the y/y increase to 1.6%. Durable goods inventories declined [...]

German trade trends show that the massive German trade surplus is being worked down as imports rise faster than exports. That rise seems to have a lot to do with oil and energy imports where prices have been rising rapidly, but then [...]

The Federal Reserve's Financial Accounts data show continued slowing of debt issuance in U.S. financial markets in Q1 2017. The total came to $1,197 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, down from $1,742 billion in Q4. The Q1 [...]

Germany's industrial production gained 0.8% in April after dropping by a thin 0.1% in March. Production is now accelerating sequentially as the 2.8% 12-month pace rises to 5.1% over six months and to 10.6% over three months. All [...]

Initial claims for jobless insurance during the week ended June 3 fell to 245,000 (-8.7% y/y) following a rise to 255,000 during the prior week, revised from 248,000. Expectations called for 240,000 claims in the Action Economics [...]

Consumer credit outstanding grew $8.20 billion (5.8% y/y) during April following a $19.54 billion March gain, revised from $16.42 billion. February's rise also was raised to $16.49 billion from $13.75 billion. A $15.8 billion April [...]