Economy in Brief: February 2013

The latest report from the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs indicated that consumers continue to spend cautiously. Chain store sales rose 2.4% last week (2.6% y/y) following a 3.2% pullback during all of [...]

Orders to all manufacturers jumped 1.8% (0.7% y/y) to close out the year, following a 0.3% November slip. The rise roughly matched expectations. For all of 2012, an easing of strength in the factory sector was evidenced by the modest [...]

EMU PPI trends appear to be stabilizing on top of the target pace for the HICP. The ECB has not formal target for the PPI. But its 2.1% on muted momentum seems like something the ECB would be pleased with -even its German [...]

Now is still a time when auto showrooms are busy, but the buying frenzy has topped off. Unit sales of light motor vehicles during January slipped 0.6% m/m (9.4% y/y) to 15.29M (SAAR) according to the Autodata Corporation. That was the [...]

The chart shows the latest twist in EMU. The recent observations plot a picture that looks like a snake with its mouth open, sticking out its green tongue. We have achieved this graphic design without using members from the periphery [...]

The University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment for all of January rose to 73.8 (-1.6% y/y) from 72.9 in December. The figure was higher than the mid-month reading of 71.3 but still was down sharply from the November high of [...]

Activity is improving in the factory sector. The Institute for Supply Management reported that its January composite index of manufacturing activity rose to 53.1 from a revised 50.2 in December. The latest beat expectations for a [...]

Growth in the job market continued last month. The 157,000 (1.5% y/y) rise in January payroll employment roughly matched expectations but gains throughout 2012 were revised higher. (Establishment survey variables were revised back to [...]