Economy in Brief

The employment cost index for civilian workers rose 0.5% (2.4% y/y) during Q2'17, down from a 0.8% increase in Q1'17. A 0.6% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Wages and salaries also increased 0.5% (2.3% [...]

Economic growth accelerated during Q2'17 to 2.6% (2.1% y/y), the quickest advance in three quarters. Real GDP growth during Q1 was revised to 1.2% from 1.4%. Earlier estimates for 2015 and 2014 were revised slightly higher. Growth of [...]

The context for understanding U.K. confidence As the chart documents, U.K. consumer confidence has been through a roller coaster. It bottomed in 2008 then jumped in 2009. It then went into a long slide that ended in 2011. Confidence [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City reported that its index of regional manufacturing sector business activity eased to 10 in July, following an unrevised increase to 11 in June. It remained sharply improved versus the negative [...]

Initial unemployment insurance claims increased to 244,000 (-5.2%) during the week ended July 22 from 234,000 in the prior week, revised from 233,000. Expectations called for 240,000 claims in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The [...]

Globally only the UK growth rate for money is accelerating; Central bank communication requires a code book EMU M2 money supply growth ticked higher in June as the year-on-year growth rate moved up to 5.1% from 4.9% where it has [...]

New orders for durable goods strengthened 6.5% (16.1% y/y) during June following a 0.1% May slip, revised from -1.1%. A 2.8% increase in orders had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The rise in orders reflected [...]

At today's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the targeted federal funds rate was held steady in a range of 1.00% to 1.25%. This followed two increases earlier this year. Additionally, the Fed indicated that shrinking its [...]