Economy in Brief: 2018

Total retail sales slipped 0.1% (+4.0% y/y) during February, following two months of similar decline. January's result was revised from -0.3% reported initially. A 0.4% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

The headline Final Demand Producer Price Index using new methodology increased 0.2% in February following a 0.4% gain in January. The year-on-year (y/y) growth edged up to 2.8%. A 0.1% February rise had been expected in the Action [...]

Japanese indicators largely show growth moving ahead but recent indicators show some backtracking; thus, suggesting that this notion of a global acceleration is either overblown or not including Japan. Japan's Economy Watchers index, [...]

Retail gasoline prices of $2.56 per gallon last week (10.2% y/y) were little-changed versus the prior three weeks, up from the early-2016 lows near $1.76 per gallon. Prices have moved roughly sideways since September. Haver Analytics [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business indicated that its Small Business Optimism Index for February increased 0.7% to 107.6 (2.2% y/y) following a 1.9% January rise. The level of optimism was the highest since 1983. A higher [...]

Price inflation for both goods & services moderated last month. The Consumer Price Index gained 0.2% (2.2% y/y) in February following a 0.5% January rise. The index excluding food and energy prices increased 0.2% (1.8% y/y) after a [...]

The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the federal government ran a $215.2 billion budget deficit during February 2018. A deficit of $216.0 billion had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. During the first five [...]

Japan's Cabinet Office survey backtracked in Q1 2018 with the business conditions index for large firms overall falling back to 3.3 in Q1 from 6.2 in Q4. The bellwether large manufacturing firm index fell to 2.9 from 9.7. This survey [...]