Economy in Brief: July 2017

Inventories at the wholesale level rebounded 0.4% during May following a 0.4% April decline, revised from -0.5%. Inventories rose a moderate 1.9% y/y. Durable goods inventories increased 0.6% (2.8% y/y) following no change in April. [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate declined to 3.7% during May from 3.9% in April, revised from a record high of 4.0%. Despite the decline, the hiring rate improved to 3.7%, its highest level in [...]

Italy's industrial production gained 0.9% in May, reversing a 0.7% drop in April. IP growth in Italy has been a very steady and solid at 3% or better over 12 months and six months; however, having stepped up to a 5.6% pace over three [...]

Regular gasoline prices rose to $2.30 per gallon last week (2.0% y/y) from $2.26 in the prior week. They remained down, however, versus the high of $2.45 per gallon in late-April. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index declined to 103.6 during June, the lowest level since November. Nevertheless, the index remained up 9.6% y/y. A lessened 33% of firms [...]

Consumer credit outstanding grew $18.42 billion (5.8% y/y) during May following a $12.93 billion rise in April, revised from $8.20 billion. A $12.0 billion May increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. During [...]

In May the overall OECD LEI logs a standing of 100, unchanged from April (and March, February and January). That's a long string of standstill and with the gauges right on top of the neutral standing at 100. These gauges are [...]

The Labor Market Conditions Index (LMCI) from the Federal Reserve Board includes 19 indicators of labor market activity, covering the broad categories of unemployment and underemployment. These include jobs, workweeks, wages, [...]