Economy in Brief: October 2017

Germany's industrial production rebounded strongly, gaining 2.6% m/m in August after falling in each of the previous two months. Capital goods output was especially strong, rising by 4.8% in August after falling for two straight [...]

Consumer credit outstanding grew $13.07 billion (5.5% y/y) during August following a $17.71 billion July increase, revised from $18.49 billion. A $15.5 billion August increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]

The government's jobs numbers will be tough to read for a time as the economy deals with hurricane effects. Nonfarm payrolls declined 33,000 (+1.2% y/y) during September following a 169,000 August increase and a 138,000 July gain. [...]

The overview Although German orders are plagued by volatility and both headline and total orders fell in July, the surge in August orders of 3.6% based on strong domestic-sourced and foreign-sourced demand confirms that order trends [...]

Inventories at the wholesale level rose 0.9% m/m (4.5% y/y) in August following unrevised 0.6% m/m increases in both July and June. Over the past three months, inventories are up at a 9.0% annual rate, up from 7.5% in July. Durable [...]

The government's jobs numbers will be tough to read for a time as the economy deals with hurricane effects. Nonfarm payrolls declined 33,000 (+1.2% y/y) during September following a 169,000 August increase and a 138,000 July gain. [...]

Globally, service sector metrics show continued growth. All countries/regions (hereafter, I will simply reference 'countries' with no change in meaning) show service sector diffusion readings above 50, indicating expansion. I evaluate [...]

Manufacturing sector orders increased 1.2% during August (5.8% y/y) following an unrevised 3.3% July decline. Durable goods orders rose 2.0% (5.4% y/y), revised from the advance report of a 1.7% gain. That followed a 6.8% decline. [...]