Economy in Brief

Italy's industrial production gained 0.9% in May, reversing a 0.7% drop in April. IP growth in Italy has been a very steady and solid at 3% or better over 12 months and six months; however, having stepped up to a 5.6% pace over three [...]

Regular gasoline prices rose to $2.30 per gallon last week (2.0% y/y) from $2.26 in the prior week. They remained down, however, versus the high of $2.45 per gallon in late-April. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index declined to 103.6 during June, the lowest level since November. Nevertheless, the index remained up 9.6% y/y. A lessened 33% of firms [...]

Consumer credit outstanding grew $18.42 billion (5.8% y/y) during May following a $12.93 billion rise in April, revised from $8.20 billion. A $12.0 billion May increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. During [...]

In May the overall OECD LEI logs a standing of 100, unchanged from April (and March, February and January). That's a long string of standstill and with the gauges right on top of the neutral standing at 100. These gauges are [...]

The Labor Market Conditions Index (LMCI) from the Federal Reserve Board includes 19 indicators of labor market activity, covering the broad categories of unemployment and underemployment. These include jobs, workweeks, wages, [...]

Nonfarm payrolls rose 222,000 (1.5% y/y) during June. It was the strongest gain since February. A 180,000 increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The rise followed a 152,000 gain in May and a 207,000 April [...]

Germany's industrial production is up by 1.2% month-to-month in May after a 0.7% gain in April. The three-month growth rate at 8.5% annualized is a part of a sequential acceleration from 12-month to six-month to three-month. [...]