Economy in Brief: January 2015

The job market remains firm. Nonfarm payroll jobs grew 2.527 million (1.9%) last year, the strongest increase since 2000. Moreover, the 252,000 rise during December (2.1% y/y) followed upwardly revised gains of 353,000 and 261,000 [...]

The job market remains firm. Nonfarm payroll jobs grew 2.527 million (1.9%) last year, the strongest increase since 2000. Moreover, the 252,000 rise during December (2.1% y/y) followed upwardly revised gains of 353,000 and 261,000 [...]

Consumer credit outstanding increased $14.1 billion during November following an upwardly revised $16.0 billion October rise, initially reported as $13.2 billion. Expectations were for a $15.0 billion increase, according to the Action [...]

The year 2014 ends with the overall EU index at 104.2 and the index for the EMU at 100.7. These are not solid readings; the one for the EMU is especially lacking. However, both metrics are roughly stable month to month. In the table, [...]

The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that job cut announcements fell to 32,640 (+6.6% y/y) during December from 35,940 in November. It was the lowest layoff level in three months. For all of 2014, layoffs [...]

Initial unemployment insurance claims during the week ended January 3 fell to 294,000 (-11.7% y/y) after rising to an unrevised 298,000 in the prior week. The four-week moving average of initial claims was fairly steady at 290,500. [...]

The U.S. foreign trade deficit in goods and services narrowed to $39.0 billion in November from $42.2 billion in October, revised from $43.4 billion. It was the smallest deficit since December 2013 and compared to $41.9 billion [...]

During the euro area crisis, Europeans contended that the European Monetary Union was and is a political union much more than an economic union. And we can see that this is true because what is happening here is not for the betterment [...]