Economy in Brief

Total business inventories increased 0.4% (4.4% y/y) during May following a 0.3% April increase. Total business sales strengthened 1.4% (8.6% y/y), following a 0.6% gain. The inventory-to-sales ratio slipped to 1.34. It peaked early [...]

Consumers continued spending last month, but at a moderated pace. Total retail sales increased 0.5% during June following a 1.3% May increase, revised from 0.8%. The 6.6% y/y increase was, however, the strongest since February 2012. [...]

The graph tells a clear story of what trade trends are up to. Both exports and imports have been losing momentum. The trade surplus has been under a trend of gradual but steady reduction. Year-on-year manufacturing exports are up by [...]

The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions decreased to 22.6 in July, from an eight-month high of 25.0 in June. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected a 21.0 reading. These data, reported by the Federal [...]

Import prices declined 0.4% during June (+4.3%) following a 0.9% rise in May, which was revised from 0.6%. A 0.1% uptick had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. These figures are not seasonally adjusted. Weakness in [...]

French retail sales rebounded in June after falling for two consecutive months. Gains earlier in the year in the February and March were quite strong, but April brought a deep decline; May sales were lower- but essentially flat- and [...]

The U.S. Treasury Department reported that during the first nine months of fiscal year 2018, the federal government budget deficit totaled $607.1 billion, up 16.1% versus $523.1 billion in the first nine months of FY'17. During June [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 231,000 during the week ended June 30 In the week ending June 23, continuing claims for unemployment insurance increased to 1.739 million Data on weekly unemployment insurance are [...]