Economy in Brief

Regular gasoline prices fell to $2.41 per gallon last week (+7.6% y/y) compared to $2.45 during the prior week. Prices remained lower than the 2014 high of $3.71 per gallon. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the [...]

The value of construction put-in-place eased 0.2% (+3.6% y/y) in March following 1.8% and 0.8% increases during February & January. These latter two figures were revised up from 0.8% and -0.4%, respectively. The latest figure compares [...]

Japan's manufacturing PMI gauge is higher in April at a 52.7, up from 52.4 in March. Ranked over all values since January 2012, it stands in the top 87.5 percentile of all recent surveys. It's a good solid report. Japan's services [...]

The ISM composite index of factory sector activity during April fell to 54.8 from an unrevised 57.2 in March. It was the lowest level since December. A level of 56.5 had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. A decline [...]

Personal income increased 0.2% during March following a 0.3% February rise, revised from 0.4%. A 0.3% increased had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The 4.5% y/y gain compared to 3.6% growth during all of 2016. [...]

The Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer Index for April increased to 58.3 from 57.7 in March. It was the highest level since January 2015. The latest reading exceeded expectations for 57.0 in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

Economic growth slowed to 0.7% during Q1'17 following a 2.1% advance during Q4'16. It was the slowest rate of increase in three years and fell short of expectations for a 1.3% advance in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Weakness [...]

Lifted by outsized rises in several industries, the employment cost index for civilian workers rose 0.8% (2.4% y/y) during Q1'17, compared to just 0.5% in Q4'16. A 0.6% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]