Economy in Brief: 2012

Producer prices are moderate in December rising by 0.1% for the total index excluding construction. The headline pace has steadily lost some momentum from 4.3% Yr/Yr to 3% annualized over three months. By sector capital goods and [...]

The outplacement firm of Challenger, Grey & Christmas reported that job cut announcements during January rebounded to the highest level since September. The rise centered in the retail, pharmaceutical, food, entertainment/leisure, [...]

Growth in labor productivity eased last quarter to an expected 0.7% after a revised 1.9% Q3 increase, last month reported as 3.1%. Slower growth in productivity was the story for all of last year with a 0.8% gain after a 4.1% rise in [...]

The downtrend in jobless insurance claims remains intact. That was indicated by another decline in initial claims for unemployment insurance. Last week they fell to 367,000 from 379,000 (revised from 377,000). Claims averaged 376,000 [...]

Sales of light motor vehicles began the year on a strong note. Unit sales of light vehicles rose to 14.19M (AR) last month, up 11.7% from one year earlier. That selling rate was up from 13.56M during December and was the highest since [...]

Job growth is continuing at a moderate pace. Private nonfarm payrolls rose 170,000 last month after a 292,000 December increase which was revised down from 325,000 reported last month. The figures come from

The level of construction spending logged another increase. Activity during December increased 1.5% after a 0.4% November gain, initially reported as 1.2%. Consensus expectations were for a 0.7% December rise. These m/m machinations [...]

Factory sector activity is improving but it's hardly robust. The Composite Index of factory sector activity from the Institute For Supply Management rose to 54.1 from a revised 53.1 in December. The latest reading roughly matched [...]