Economy in Brief: 2014

Total business inventories increased 0.4% in February (4.2% y/y), the same as in January. These gains were accompanied a 0.8% rebound (1.8% y/y) in business sales after January's 1.1% decline. As a result, the inventory-to-sales ratio [...]

Retail sales gained 1.1% last month (3.8% y/y) following a 0.7% February increase, revised from 0.3%. The gain was the largest since September 2012 and roughly matched the 0.8% rise expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. A [...]

Industrial production in the European Monetary Union moved up by 0.2% in February following a flat performance in January. That also followed a decline of 0.3% in December. However, measured on a quarter-to-date basis, industrial [...]

The overall final demand PPI increased 0.5% (1.4% y/y) in March following an unrevised 0.1% February slip. It was the largest increase in twelve months and easily beat expectations for a 0.1% uptick in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

Inflation has taken on a life of its own as a policy driver in the European Monetary Union. Jens Weidmann, President of the Deutsche Bundesbank, who has been renowned for his opposition to anything that looked like an innovative [...]

The Federal Government posted a $36.9 billion budget deficit during March of FY 2014. The latest deficit was shallower than the Action Economics Forecast Survey expectation of an $80.0 billion deficit. In the first half of this fiscal [...]

Central banking has been through a number of ups and downs. Currently central bankers are under a good deal of pressure for the regulatory missteps during the financial crisis as well as what are construed by some as inappropriate [...]

Import prices increased 0.6% (-0.6% y/y) during March following an unrevised 0.9% February rise. A 0.2% rise had been expected in the Action Economics survey. A 0.6% improvement (0.1% y/y) in nonpetroleum prices led the pricing [...]