Economy in Brief: March 2015

The U.S. foreign trade deficit in goods and services decreased to $41.8 billion in January from December's $45.6, revised from $46.6 billion. This January net result was almost exactly equal to the $42.0 billion expected in the Action [...]

German industrial production shows signs of stabilizing and reasserting growth in the January report. The chart of year-over-year growth rates shows that by sector the year-over-year trends have stopped falling and that capital goods [...]

Improvement in the labor market continues firm. Nonfarm payroll employment during February increased 295,000 (2.3% y/y) following a 239,000 January rise, revised from 257,000. The latest advance compared to expectations for 240,000 in [...]

New orders in the manufacturing sector slipped 0.2% (-2.3% y/y) following a little-revised 3.5% December decline. The fall was the sixth in as many months and roughly matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey for a [...]

Nonfarm productivity slipped at a 2.2% annual rate last quarter, revised from -1.8%. The decline followed a 3.9% 3Q rise. For all of last year, worker productivity rose 0.7% on average. Real output increased at a downwardly revised [...]

The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that job cut announcements during February slipped to 50,579 (+20.9% y/y) following a jump to 53,041 in January. Layoffs fell m/m in the automotive, chemical, commodities, [...]

Initial unemployment insurance claims moved up 320,000 during the week ended February 28 from an unrevised 313,000 in the prior week. It was the highest level of claims since the middle of May 2014. The four-week moving average of [...]

Italy continues to struggle. Its GDP fell in Q4 and is net lower year-over-year. GDP in Italy is falling as fast year-over-year in Q4 as it was in Q3. That is not progress. Public consumption rose at a 1.7% annual rate in Q4 2014 but [...]