Economy in Brief: August 2017

The headline Final Demand Producer Price Index eased 0.1% during July (+1.9% y/y) after a 0.1% uptick during June. A 0.1% rise in the index had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The PPI excluding food & energy [...]

Inventories at the wholesale level increased 0.7% during June following a 0.6% May rise, revised from 0.4%. Inventories rose a moderate 2.9% y/y. The latest gain was the strongest in six months. Durable goods inventories increased [...]

Housing starts in Canada rose by 4.4% month-to-month and are up for the second month running. The pace of starts is the third strongest in the last two years. Starts, in fact, have not been able to sustain or surpass this pace on a [...]

Output per hour in the nonfarm business sector improved at a 0.9% annual rate in the second quarter following a 0.1% uptick in the first quarter. A 0.7% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Output rose 3.4% [...]

Regular gasoline prices rose to $2.38 per gallon last week (10.6% y/y) from $2.35 in the prior week. They remained down, however, from the high of $2.45 per gallon in late-April. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate rose to 4.0% during June from 3.8% in May, revised from 3.7%. It was the highest level since last July, equaling the record. Despite the increase, the hiring [...]

The German trade surplus, once looking like it was diminishing, is now riding a seven-month trend to high values. The surplus on the trade account in June is only marginally higher than in February of this year and was last this large [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index jumped 1.6 points to 105.2 during July and reversed several months of decline. The latest level was the highest since February. A [...]