Economy in Brief: June 2015

emerging labor shortage was evidenced by the job openings rate during April. It gained m/m to 3.7%, up from the recession low of 1.6%. It was just below the series' high of 3.8% early in 2001. The job openings rate is the number of [...]

Inventories at the wholesale level increased 0.4% during April (4.5% y/y) following two months of 0.2% increase. Despite the monthly rise, y/y growth decelerated to 4.5%, its slowest since early last year. Durable goods inventories [...]

The emerging labor shortage was evidenced by the job openings rate during April. It gained m/m to 3.7%, up from the recession low of 1.6%. It was just below the series' high of 3.8% early in 2001. The job openings rate is the number [...]

Japan's consumer confidence index fell for the second month in a row. The confidence reading for May sits in the 48th percentile of its longer historic queue of data back to 1992. The raw reading of 41.4 is itself a diffusion reading [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index increased to 98.3 during May from an unrevised 96.9 in April. The reading was the highest since December. The percentage of firms [...]

Gasoline prices remained unchanged last week at an average $2.78 per gallon at the pump (-24.3% y/y). They were at the highest level since early-December, roughly one-third higher versus the low of $2.04 late in January. Haver [...]

The Labor Market Condition Index (LMCI), from the Federal Reserve Board, provides a broad-based measure of the U.S. job market. Through December, it showed tightening conditions. During the winter, however, indications of slack [...]

The Labor Market Condition Index (LMCI), from the Federal Reserve Board, provides a broad-based measure of the U.S. job market. Through December, it showed tightening conditions. In the winter months, however, indications of slack [...]