Economy in Brief

Retail gasoline prices increased to $2.52 per gallon (6.0% y/y) last week, the highest level since late November. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in gasoline pump prices. At $2.64 per gallon, [...]

The Industrial Materials Price Index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) rose 1.3% during the last four weeks and gained 6.7% during all of 2017. That increase followed a 19.2% rise in 2016 and [...]

The Industrial Materials Price Index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) rose 1.3% during the last four weeks and gained 6.7% during all of 2017. That increase followed a 19.2% rise in 2016 and [...]

The Industrial Materials Price Index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) rose 1.3% during the last four weeks and gained 6.7% during all of 2017. That increase followed a 19.2% rise in 2016 and [...]

Germany, France and all of the EMU are on six-year highs for manufacturing. The EMU reading is at an all-time high from the late-1990s when the series originated. There are very few weak readings in absolute terms even so the strength [...]

The Italian bond market sold off in end of year trading as Italian investors began to think ahead to 2018 elections. Silvio Berlusconi is in the news again and extoling the virtues and standing of his party as the main rival to the [...]

The Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer for December rose 3.7 points to 67.6 from 63.9 in November. December's result was up 10 points from December 2016 and was the strongest reading since March 2011. A decline to 62.7 had [...]

Despite another solid month of IP expansion, IP trends in Japan remain under pressure. Sequential growth rates show no clear pattern. Output generally expands fast in Japan over six months that it has over 12-months. But output also [...]