Economy in Brief

U.S. President Donald Trump has just been jaw-boning China again, threating 25% tariffs. China has said it would retaliate. We have seen some impact already from trade flows that boosted U.S. Q2 GDP as soybeans were pushed out the [...]

The ADP/Moody's National Employment Report indicated that private nonfarm payrolls increased 219,000 (1.9% y/y) during July following a 181,000 rise in June, revised from 177,000. A 180,000 improvement had been expected in the Action [...]

Retail gasoline prices declined to $2.83 per gallon last week (+22.4% y/y) ........... These data are reported by the U.S. Department of Energy. The price data can be found in Haver's WEEKLY and DAILY databases. Greater detail on [...]

The Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer increased to 65.5 during July from June's unrevised 64.1. It was the highest level in six months, continuing its sharply rising trend during the last three years. The Action Economics [...]

EMU area GDP slowed in Q2 2018 to an annualized pace of 1.4% from 1.5% in Q1. The year-on-year pace slowed to 2.1% from 2.5% previously. It’s the slowest GDP pace for the euro area since it gained 1.1% in Q2 2016. At this point, there [...]

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index during July increased 0.2% (6.2% y/y) to 127.4 from 127.1, initially reported as 126.4. The July level exceeded expectations for 126.0 in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The level [...]

The employment cost index (ECI) for civilian workers rose 0.8% q/q in Q1 2018.......... The employment cost index figures are available in Haver's USECON database. Consensus estimates come from the Action Economics survey in Haver's [...]

The employment cost index (ECI) for civilian workers rose 0.6% q/q in Q2 2018, easing from the sizable 0.8% gain in Q1 that had been among the strongest quarterly moves since late 2007. The year/year movement still benefited, of [...]