Economy in Brief: 2014

The U.S. foreign trade deficit remained at $39.1 billion in January versus December's $39.0 billion, last month reported as $38.7 billion. A $38.5 billion deficit had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Both exports [...]

Nonfarm payrolls grew 175,000 during February following a 129,000 January increase, initially reported as 113,000. The rise outpaced expectations for a 145,000 increase in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The unemployment rate [...]

Nonfarm payrolls grew 175,000 during February following a 129,000 January increase, initially reported as 113,000. The rise outpaced expectations for a 145,000 increase in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The unemployment rate [...]

The Federal Reserve's financial accounts data (formerly known as the "flow of funds") for Q4 show total credit market borrowing at a $3.12 trillion annual rate, compared with $1.75 trillion in Q3 and the largest amount since Q1 2008. [...]

The Federal Reserve's financial accounts data (formerly known as the "flow of funds") for Q4 show total credit market borrowing at a $3.12 trillion annual rate, compared with $1.75 trillion in Q3 and the largest amount since Q1 2008. [...]

Nonfarm business sector productivity improved 1.8% last quarter (1.3% y/y), revised down from last month's estimate of 3.2% growth. That followed a little-revised Q3 increase of 3.5%. The gain fell short of expectations for a 2.5% [...]

Orders to all manufacturers fell 0.7% (+2.0% y/y) during January following a 2.0% December decline, revised from -1.5%. Consensus expectations had been for a 0.3% slip. Last month's decline reflected an unrevised 1.0% drop (+4.6% y/y) [...]

The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that job cut announcements edged down slightly to 41,835 (-24.4% y/y) during February but only dented the prior month's jump. Layoffs declined m/m in the retail, [...]