Economy in Brief

The Industrial Materials Price Index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) declined 2.7% during the last four weeks, but remained up 9.1% during the last twelve months. This adds to the strength [...]

In Europe, both car registrations and retail sales are engaged in a long post-recession rebound. Both recoveries seem to be in train. Car registrations jumped by 13.4% in May reversing a sharp 8.7% drop in April. Sequential growth [...]

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, [...]

New home building continued to exhibit weakness last month. Total housing starts fell 5.5% (-2.6% y/y) during May to 1.092 million (AR) from 1.156 million in April, revised from 1.172 million. It was the lowest level of starts since [...]

Following three months of decline, the Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions for June jumped to 19.8 from -1.0 in May. It was the highest level since September 2014. A reading of 4.5 was expected in the [...]

The EMU trade surplus contracted significantly in April to 19.6 billion euros from 22.2 billion euros. Still, the year-over-year shrinkage is small. The balance of trade for the manufactured goods surplus fell by 5 billion euros [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index declined to 27.6 during June and reversed most of May's jump to 38.8 in May. The latest monthly reading compared to expectations for [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo declined 2.9% to 67 during June following the May increase to 69, revised from 70. The index remained 11.7% higher y/y. The NAHB figures are [...]