Economy in Brief

Regular gasoline prices fell to $2.26 per gallon last week (-1.4% y/y) from $2.29 in the prior week. Prices were down from the high of $2.45 per gallon in late-April. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal [...]

Total sales of light vehicles during June eased 0.9% (-1.8% y/y) to 16.51 million units (SAAR) from 16.66 million in May, according to the Autodata Corporation. Sales have fallen 10.4% since the December 2016 peak. Light truck sales [...]

The value of construction put-in-place held steady during May (+4.9% y/y) following a 0.7% April dip, revised from -1.4%. Earlier figures also were revised. Expectations were for a 0.3% rise in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]

The ISM factory sector composite index improved to 57.8 during June from May's reading of 54.9. It was the highest point since August 2014. A level of 55.0 had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Earlier figures [...]

Japan's Tankan survey is conducted by the Bank of Japan; it is abroad survey executed across various industry classifications of Japanese firms and across firms of different size categories. The large enterprise survey is considered [...]

The Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer for June jumped to 65.7 following an increase to 59.4 in May. It was the highest index level since May 2014. The latest reading surpassed expectations for 58.0 in the Action Economics [...]

Personal income increased 0.4% during May (3.5% y/y) following a 0.3% April rise, revised from 0.4%. The gain outpaced expectations for a 0.3% advance in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Wages & salaries ticked just 0.1% higher [...]

Strong gains in and across EMU The EU Commission index for all of the EMU rose to 111.1 in June from 109.2 in May. Over the last 21 years, a monthly gain this strong or stronger has occurred only 16% of the time, marking the month's [...]