Economy in Brief: April 2015

The job openings rate during February improved to 3.5%, leaving it closer to the series high of 3.8% and up from the recession low of 1.6%. The job openings rate is the number of job openings on the last business day of the month as a [...]

The chart on the left underscores the relationship between the services sector and consumer confidence. The two series have moved in a near lockstep phase over the last five years and seem to have become more closely linked over the [...]

Gasoline prices eased another 4 cents last week to $2.41 cents per gallon, down by one-third versus a year ago. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in pump prices. The seasonally adjusted price fell [...]

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Activity fell to 56.5 during March from an unrevised 56.9 in February. These numbers remained well below the highs of the second half of 2014. The [...]

Globally the manufacturing sector is struggling. In March, 11 of the 17 countries/units in the table showed declines their respective manufacturing PMIs. Moreover, 8 of these 17 entities have PMI readings below 50, indicating [...]

Job market improvement lost steam last month. Nonfarm payroll employment during March increased 126,000 (2.3% y/y) following a 264,000 February rise, revised from 295,000. January's advance also was lessened to 201,000 from 239,000. [...]

Job market improvement lost steam last month. Nonfarm payroll employment during March increased 126,000 (2.3% y/y) following a 264,000 February rise, revised from 295,000. January's advance also was lessened to 201,000 from 239,000. [...]

New orders in the manufacturing sector improved 0.2% during February following a 0.7% January decline, revised from -0.2%. A 0.5% decline was expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Durable goods orders declined 1.4% (+0.5% [...]