Economy in Brief

European car registrations fell sharply in April with a 7.1% drop, marking their second drop in the last three months for what is intrinsically a volatile series. Sequential growth rates, comparing 12-month to six-month to three-month [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index jumped to 34.4 during May, the highest level in a year. Expectations had been for a reading of 21.0 in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance edged slightly higher last week to 222,000 (-6.7% y/y) in the week ended May 12 versus an unrevised 211,000 in the prior week. Claims were expected to rise to 215,000 in the Action Economics [...]

EMU core and headline inflation rates continue to grow at rates that are at a significant discount to their objective (which is just a bit below 2%). Headline inflation grew by 0.3% in April, but the core only rose by 0.1%. Still, [...]

The Federal Reserve reported that industrial production increased 0.7% (3.5% y/y) during April following a 0.7% March rise, revised from 0.5%. A 0.5% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Factory sector [...]

Total housing starts in April fell 3.7% (+10.5% y/y) to 1.287 million (SAAR) from 1.336 million during March, revised from 1.319 million. A level of 1.318 million starts had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]

The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions rose to 20.1 during May and made up most of its April decline. Expectations had been for 15.0 in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. These data, reported by the [...]

Inventories, whose growth had outpaced sales in previous months, were back to zero growth in March. Meanwhile, the pace of sales overall held at a 0.5% gain in March, the same pace as in February. Over three months we see that the [...]