Economy in Brief: 2013

Federal Reserve financial accounts data (formerly known as the "flow of funds") for Q3 show the net volume of credit market borrowing at a $1.57 trillion annual rate, moderately larger than the $1.48 trillion in Q2. Q2 is mildly [...]

German industrial production fell by 1.2% in October, marking the second monthly drop in a row. In September IP dropped by 0.7%. German industrial output is now falling at a 1.5% annual rate over three months, faster than its 1.3% [...]

The National Association for Business Economics held the median estimate for real GDP growth fairly constant at 2.8% for 2014 versus the 2.9% forecast in its May survey. That follows a lowered 1.6% growth projection for this year. [...]

Consumer credit outstanding increased by $18.2 billion (6.3% y/y) during October following a $16.3 billion September rise, revised from $13.7 billion. Expectations had been for a $13.9 billion increase, according to the Action [...]

Consumers are feeling better about things. The index of consumer sentiment from the Reuters/University of Michigan survey jumped to 82.5 early this month from 75.1 during November. That recovered the declines since the July peak and [...]

German orders fell hard in October after an even stronger surge in Sept. September saw a sharp pullback in both foreign and domestic orders. But the foreign pullback followed a stronger surge in September while the domestic setback [...]

Job market improvement remains on a steady, if moderate, growth track. Nonfarm payroll employment grew 203,000 (1.7% y/y) during November following slightly revised gains of 200,000 and 175,000 during the prior two months. The rise [...]

Personal income fell in October by 0.1% (+3.4% y/y) after a gain of 0.5% in September. An October rise of 0.3% had been forecast in the Action Economics consensus survey. The drop occurred in farm income, down 15.2% in the month and [...]