Economy in Brief: March 2012

Labor market improvement may have hit a moderate & steady cruising speed. Nonfarm payrolls grew 227,000 (1.5% y/y) during February following a 284,000 January rise and a 223,000 December increase, both of which were revised up [...]

New Federal Reserve data indicate that credit market borrowing ran to an annualized $1,132 billion, seasonally adjusted, in Q4. This amount compares to a similar $946 billion in Q3 and a mere $95 billion in Q2. For 2011 as a whole [...]

German industrial production rose by 1.6% in January after falling by 2.6% in December and being flat in November. For the most part industrial trends are pointing lower. Even with the rebound in January the level of IP stands below [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance edged up during the week ended March 3 to 362,000 from 354,000 during the previous period, initially estimated at 351,000. Claims averaged 355,000 (-10.4% y/y) during the last four weeks. The [...]

The outplacement firm of Challenger, Grey & Christmas reported that job cut announcements during February slipped to 51,728 and remained near the earlier low. During the last ten years there has been a 67% correlation between the [...]

Reported late yesterday, consumer credit outstanding jumped another $17.8B (4.3% y/y) during January after a $16.3B December increase, revised from $19.3B. A $10.0B increase had been expected by Action Economics. It raised credit [...]

German orders fell by 2.7% in January, an unexpected development. The drop follows a gain of 1.6% in December and a large 4.9% drop in November. As a result the three-month growth rates are deteriorating for orders. Foreign orders are [...]

The index of total mortgage applications slipped 1.2% last week to 754.4 (+46.7% y/y), down for the fourth consecutive week. Nevertheless, applications were up by nearly one-half versus last year. Applications to refinance fell 2.0% [...]