Economy in Brief: February 2014

The Business Leaders Survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is similar to the Empire State Manufacturing Survey. One set of numbers covers New York's service sector and the other the factory sector. During January, the [...]

Inflation in the euro area continues to be mild. The total for the PPI-excluding-construction rose by 0.4% in December; that was a hearty pace by recent standards. However, it follows a 0.1% increase in November and the three-month [...]

The price for a gallon of regular gasoline prices edged down a penny last week to $3.29 (-7.0% y/y) last week and remained down versus the $3.78 per gallon peak reached in February of last year. Haver Analytics constructs seasonal [...]

Temperatures below zero in some parts of the U.S., and just unseasonably cold elsewhere in the country, took their toll on light vehicle sales last month. Unit motor vehicle sales slipped 1.0% to 15.24 million (SAAR, +0.1% y/y) during [...]

The value of construction put-in-place ticked 0.1% higher in December (5.3% y/y) following a revised 0.8% November increase, initially reported as 1.0%. No change in building activity had been expected in the Action Economics [...]

The manufacturing PMI for the European Monetary Union (EMU) in January 2014 rose smartly to a level of 54.0 from 52.7 in December 2013. The index shows widespread increases for the countries in the table. Only three EMU members showed [...]

Widespread snowstorms in the U.S. helped limit factory operations last month. The Composite Index of Manufacturing Sector Activity from the Institute for Supply Management dropped sharply to 51.3 during January from a revised 56.5 in [...]