Economy in Brief: October 2010

Both the EMU and US services indices backtracked in September. For the US the backtracking was only in activity as the headline for the Non-MFG PMI (not only services') did rise. The level of both the US and EMU sector barometers [...]

The U.S. service sector last month recovered most of what it lost during August. The September Composite Index for the service and construction sectors from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) rose to 53.2 from 51.5 in August. [...]

The pump price for regular gasoline has been roughly stable since June, close to last week's level of $2.73 per gallon. Prices remained down from $2.91 in early-May. To the upside, however, the moderate economic recovery has been [...]

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that pending sales of existing single-family homes improved during August. The 4.3% m/m rise repeated the gain during July and brought home sales to the highest level since April. [...]

The Euro-Area PPI has stopped accelerating in August. The Yr/Yr rate dropped to 3.5% from 4%. The sequential growth rates show steadily diminishing momentum for inflation. Capital goods and intermediate goods inflation rates are lower [...]

At least vehicle sales are holding up and not slipping. Unit sales of light vehicles grudgingly moved higher last month, up 2.5% m/m to 11.76M units (SAAR) and recovering the 0.6% dip during August. Though modest, the sales gain was [...]

The value of construction-put-in-place increased in August by 0.4%, following a downwardly revised 1.4% decline in July and an upwardly revised 0.6% rise in June. The August result compared with Consensus forecasts of a 0.4% decline, [...]

Consumers don't feel terrific, but at least their mood isn't deteriorating. The University of Michigan reported that its September Consumer Sentiment reading of 68.2 held near the levels of the prior two months. Also, the figure [...]