Economy in Brief: April 2019

The headline Final Demand Producer Price Index increased 0.6% during March (2.2% y/y) following a 0.1% February gain. A 0.3% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Producer prices excluding food & energy rose [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance decreased to 196,000 (-13.7% year-on-year) during the week ended April 6 from a slightly upwardly-revised 204,000 in the previous week. This is the lowest level of claims since October 1969. [...]

U.K. manufacturing industrial output rose in February by 0.9%, marking back-to-back increases averaging 1% per month for two months in a row. Headline manufacturing growth shows acceleration in progress from 12-months (0.6%) to six- [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Index fell 5.6% (+24.1% y/y) during the week ending April 5. Applications to purchase a home improved 0.5% (12.6% y/y), but refinancings declined 11.4% [...]

The Consumer Price Index increased an expected 0.4% during March following a 0.2% February rise. It was the largest monthly increase since January 2018. The 1.9% y/y increase compared to a 2.9% y/y high last July. The CPI excluding [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate declined to 4.5% during February, its lowest level since March 2018. The job openings rate is the job openings level as a percent of total employment plus the [...]

Italian retail sales ticked higher in February, rising by 0.1% after a 0.6% January gain. Still, retail performance is poor with nominal sales up by less than 1% over 12 months (0.9%) and dead flat over both six months and three [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) reported that its Small Business Optimism Index of 101.8 during March was basically unchanged from February, but remained down sharply from its August peak of 108.8. The index [...]