Economy in Brief: November 2016

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services decreased to $36.4 billion in September from a marginally revised $40.5 billion in August. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected a $38.7 billion deficit. Exports rose 0.6% (0.9% [...]

The euro area PPI fell in September after falling in August; it is now dropping by 1.6% year-over-year in September and logged its smallest drop since November 2014. Prices fell month-to-month in five of 13 of the EU countries in the [...]

Nonfarm payroll employment increased 161,000 (1.7% y/y) during October following revised gains of 191,000 and 176,000 in September and August. These had been reported as 156,000 and 167,000, respectively. A 174,000 rise in employment [...]

The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that job cut announcements during October declined to 30,740 (-39.1% y/y) following September's increase to 44,324. It was the lowest level of job cut announcements since [...]

Manufacturing sector orders improved 0.3% during September following a 0.4% increase in August, revised from 0.2%. Three month growth rose to 8.4%. New orders for durable goods declined 0.3% (+1.4% y/y), which was revised from the [...]

Unemployment rates in the EMU continue to show more progress than has economic growth. The unemployment rate for all of EU steadied at 8.5% for the second month in a row. The EMU rate stayed at its all-time low of 10% for the third [...]

The Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Business Activity from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) fell to 54.8 during October from an unrevised 57.1 in September. The decline disappointed expectations for 56.0 in the [...]

Initial unemployment insurance claims rose to 265,000 (-4.7% y/y) during the week ended October 29 following an unrevised decline to 258,000 in the week prior. The four-week moving average of claims rose to 257,750, but remained near [...]