Economy in Brief: 2018

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's Nonmanufacturing Business Index of current conditions at the company level declined to 27.6 in March from 32.1 during February. It was the lowest index level since December. Forty-one percent [...]

Retail gasoline prices rose to $2.60 per gallon last week (11.9% y/y), but remained below last month's high of $2.64 per gallon. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in gasoline pump prices. The [...]

While the EMU trade surplus is the lowest in three months, it is also still higher than five month's surpluses back to January 2017 and higher than anything before November 2014. The 12-month average for a surplus is 20.1 billion [...]

The Industrial Materials Price Index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) improved 1.2% (7.3% y/y) during the last four weeks as factory sector production around the world continued to improve. [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate jumped to 4.1% in January, matching the record rate reached in the middle of last year. The hiring rate rose to 3.8%. Over the last three years the hiring rate [...]

EMU inflation is even weaker upon its final revision. In February the HICP fell by 0.1% with core inflation up by 0.1% even the three-month pace of inflation is below 1.5% at 1.4% with the core pace even weaker at 1.2%. In February [...]

Total housing starts in February declined 7.0% (-4.0% y/y) to 1.236 million (AR) from 1.329 million in January, revised from 1.326 million. A level of 1.290 million starts had been expected in the Action Economic Forecast Survey. [...]

The Federal Reserve reported that industrial production increased 1.1% (4.4% y/y) during February following a 0.3% January dip, revised from -0.1%. It was the largest increase since October 2017. A 0.3% rise had been expected in the [...]