Economy in Brief

The headline Final Demand Producer Price Index using new methodology edged 0.1% higher (2.6% y/y) during April following an unrevised 0.3% rise in March. A 0.2% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate increased to 4.2% in March from an unrevised 3.9% in February. (The job openings rate is the job openings level as a percent of total employment plus the job [...]

German exports reversed a three-month slide to a 1.7% rise in March. Still, German exports are ‘not out of the woods.’ They have fallen month to month is five of the last seven months. The chart shows that exports are having a weak [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) indicated that its Small Business Optimism Index stood at 104.8 for April, 104.7 in March and was fairly stable y/y. The level of optimism hit a 35-year high in February. A net [...]

Retail gasoline prices were unchanged at $2.85 per gallon yesterday (19.9% year-on-year) remaining at the highest price level since November 2014. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in gasoline [...]

Consumer credit outstanding increased $11.62 billion (5.0% y/y) during March following a $13.63 billion February rise, revised from $10.61 billion. It was the weakest monthly increase in six months. A $16.0 billion rise had been [...]

Germany's inflation adjusted orders jumped in December of last year but they were not off to the races. That gain fully unwound and then some the very next month with further declines logged in February and March. The third straight [...]

The job market continued to lose its vibrancy during April. Nonfarm payrolls rose 164,000 (1.6% y/y) following a 135,000 March gain and a 324,000 February increase. Together, these two figures were revised up by 30,000. A 190,000 [...]