Economy in Brief: 2015

While sentiment in the EU area advanced again in April, in the EMU there was a setback. Of the 16 reporters, six showed declines in their overall sentiment indices as the overall EMU index fell by 0.2%. Eight of these member countries [...]

Real GDP growth of 0.2% (3.0% y/y) last quarter followed an unrevised 2.2% Q4 gain. The increase disappointed expectations for a 1.1% rise in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Last quarter's economic performance was its weakest in [...]

Real GDP growth of 0.2% (3.0% y/y) last quarter followed an unrevised 2.2% Q4 gain. The increase disappointed expectations for a 1.1% rise in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Last quarter's economic performance was its weakest in [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond reported that its April Composite Index of Manufacturing Sector activity remained negative at -3 following weak readings of -8 and 0 during the prior two months. Expectations were for -2 in the [...]

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index declined 6.1% in April to 95.2 (+16.5% y/y) after rising to 101.4 during March, revised from 101.3. The latest figure was the lowest since December and missed expectations for 102.2 in [...]

French household confidence has increased in seven of the last nine months and has gone nine months without a setback to confidence. However, the confidence reading is still weak historically. At 94 the current confidence reading is [...]

Last week, gasoline prices increased to an average $2.57 cents per gallon at the pump, the highest level since early-December and up by one-quarter versus the late-January low of $2.04. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported that its April Composite index of factory sector activity was fairly steady m/m at a level of -16.0, the fourth consecutive negative monthly reading. The figure reflected weakness amongst [...]