Economy in Brief: 2012

Retail sales recovered last month following weak holiday spending. Retail sales rose 0.4% (5.8% y/y) during January after a revised no-change in December, initially reported as a 0.1% uptick. Consensus expectations had been for a 0.7% [...]

The preliminary estimate of a 3.0 billion annual rate decline in chained 2005 yen(-2.3% annual rate) in Japan's fourth quarter gross domestic product from the third quarter was greater than expected. During the quarter private and [...]

The economic expansion is expected to continue into next year, but its growth rate will be at or below trend. That's indicated in the latest from the ASA/NBER Economic Outlook Survey of Professional Forecasters released on Friday. For [...]

The DIHK survey has tied its all-time high measure in 2012 Q1. The German Chambers of Commerce, or DIHK, said its quarterly survey of 28,000 companies shows that the economy is on solid ground. Its headline makes a strong declaration [...]

The University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment for mid-February eased to 72.5. While the decline reversed half of January's increase, the latest was very-much improved versus six months ago. Consensus expectations were for [...]

An improving U.S. economy is taking in more imports. That's the indication behind a deeper U.S. foreign trade deficit during December, deeper for the second month in a row. The deficit rose to $48.8B from a revised $47.1B in November, [...]

Inventories at the wholesale level jumped 1.0% (10.0% y/y) during December following no change in November. For all of last year inventories rose 10.0% following an 11.1% gain during 2010. Higher inventories of apparel (17.5% y/y), [...]

The chart puts a good perspective on the turn up in UK yearend IP...nothing special. The rise in December is sharp and does pull IP out of a deepening nose dive of Yr/Yr growth rates headed below zero. But as we often like to remind [...]