Economy in Brief: 2011

While the recent earthquake in Japan in terms of lives lost and property damage, to say nothing of the potential nuclear fallout, exceeds that of the Kobe earthquake of 1995, a look at the economic statistics following that earthquake [...]

Consumers know a bad deal when they see one. They realize that when prices go up, purchasing power goes down. Data from the University of Michigan, contained in Haver's database, paint a compelling picture. The simple relationship, [...]

Business inventories grew further in January, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The January gain was 0.9% and December was revised from 0.8% to 1.1%. Over the last three months, total inventories have expanded at a 10.1% [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that the January job openings rate slipped to 2.1% from a downwardly revised 2.2% during December. Nevertheless, these levels remained [...]

Consumers don't like it when they lose money. And the rise in oil prices reduces their spending power. The mid-March reading of consumer sentiment, from the University of Michigan, reflected that concern and declined 12.0% to 68.2 [...]

Total retail and food service sales rose last month by 1.0% following a 0.7% January increase, revised up from 0.3%. Sales have risen for eight consecutive months and the latest increase lifted the y/y increase to 8.9%, the strongest [...]

Credit market borrowing amounted to $1,111 billion, seasonally adjusted annual rate, in Q4. This extended a firming trend that lasted throughout 2010; the year cumulated to $736 billion in borrowing, reversing the net paydown of $634 [...]

German exports, although expected to remain strong in 2011, fell in January taking their 3-month growth rate into negative territory along with it. Notwithstanding this set-back the German trade group BGA just yesterday affirmed the [...]