Economy in Brief: 2004

Industrial production rose another 0.7% in February following an upwardly revised 0.8% gain in January. The rise easily outpaced Consensus expectations for a 0.4% increase. Production in the factory sector jumped 1.0% following the [...]

Retail sales rose 0.6% last month and matched the Consensus expectation. The previously reported 0.3% decline in January sales was revised up to a 0.3% increase. Retail sales excluding motor vehicles & parts dealers were little [...]

Japan's seasonally adjusted current account surplus widened to a record in January, according to the Bank of Japan/Ministry of Finance report on the nation's Balance of Payments issued today. The increase over December was ¥345 [...]

The U.S. foreign trade deficit set a new record in January. It deepened sharply to $43.1B versus December's deficit of $42.7B which was little revised. Consensus expectations had been for a deficit of $41.5B. Exports fell a sharp 1.2% [...]

German Industrial production in January declined 0.1% from December, 2003 as a result of mixed trends in the economy. Construction fell by 7.37%, while total production, excluding construction managed a slight gain of 0.40%. Within [...]

The ICSC-UBS survey reported that chain store sales fell 0.3% last week following little change the week prior, a result that was revised down slightly. Sales have been lackluster for the last three weeks after a strong start in [...]

Thailand's gross domestic product grew 2.65% or at an annual rate of 11.05% in the fourth quarter of 2003, well above consensus estimates. Growth for the whole year was 6.72%, the highest rate in four years. Private consumption and [...]

The Index of Leading Indicators for the Major Seven OECD Countries began 2004 signaling economic growth. A 0.3% (6.2% y/y) rise in January was the tenth consecutive monthly increase. Six-month growth in the leading index dipped [...]