Economy in Brief: April 2009

China is one of the earliest countries to report March trade data. On a seasonally unadjusted basis exports were up 39.1% in March after falling for five successive months. Exports are still 17% below the year ago figure, but that is [...]

The OECD trend restored leading indicators show that a very deep recession is underway. The declines in the LEIs over 6-months are the most severe of the modern post-war period. The LEI declines are sharper than in either of the two [...]

War in the Mideast, recession at home and TARP lifted the U.S. government's budget deficit to nearly $1 trillion during just the first half of this fiscal year. For all of FY09, the Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that [...]

War in the Mideast, recession at home and TARP lifted the U.S. government's budget deficit to nearly $1 trillion during just the first half of this fiscal year. For all of FY09, the Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that [...]

Though they may be topping, initial claims for unemployment insurance certainly remain high. At 654,000 last week that was down from an upwardly revised 675,000 during the prior week. However, the level was up 82.7% from one year ago. [...]

U.S. import prices rose for the first month since last July due to a rise in oil prices. Overall, the 0.5% rise in import prices was the first though pricing power continued weak due to the worldwide recession. During the last twelve [...]

We saw the weakness in German orders so it is not surprising that output is having the same experience in Germany . Industrial output fell by a large 2.9% in January on the heels of a dizzying 6.1% drop in January. Output is declining [...]

Amidst the worldwide economic recession, the U.S. foreign trade deficit fell further during February to the lowest level since November of 1999. The deficit of $26.0B narrowed from the little revised January level of $36.2B. Imports [...]