Economy in Brief: September 2017

Italy's industrial production gained 0.5% in July after a 0.8% increase in June. It also advanced 0.9% in May. IP has advanced strongly for three straight months as well as in five of the last six months. Growth rates by sector are [...]

Consumer credit outstanding grew $18.49 billion (5.9% y/y) during July following an $11.82 billion June increase, revised from $12.40 billion. It was the strongest monthly gain since February. A $15.0 billion July increase had been [...]

Japan's trade surplus continues to log positive readings and sports a higher reading at 337 billion yen in July, up from 87 billion yen in June. The surplus is the highest since February and about double the values posted from March [...]

Inventories at the wholesale level during July increased 0.6% for the third consecutive month. June's increase was revised from 0.7%. Inventories rose a moderate 3.2% y/y. During the last three months, however, inventories rose at an [...]

As Hurricane Harvey shut down business activity in Houston and along the Gulf Coast, initial applications for unemployment insurance jumped to 298,000 (14.9% y/y) during the week ended September 2 from an unrevised 236,000 the prior [...]

Germany's industrial production was flat in July after a 1.1% decline in June. These results followed a series of five months during which German output expanded strongly at a 12% annual rate. With the slowing in the past several [...]

Output per hour in the nonfarm business sector grew at a 1.5% annual rate (1.3% y/y) in the second quarter, revised from 0.9% estimated last month. A 1.2% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Output rose [...]

Hurricane Harvey has had a pronounced effect on gasoline prices. Regular gasoline prices at the pump jumped 28 cents in the week ended September 4 to $2.68 per gallon (20.5% y/y), the highest level since August 2015. Haver Analytics [...]