Economy in Brief: March 2018

The ADP/Moody's National Employment Report indicated that private nonfarm payrolls increased 235,000 during February following a 244,000 January gain, revised from 234,000. A 200,000 rise had been expected in the Action Economics [...]

Oil prices continue to try to work some inflation mischief in the background, but OECD area inflation in January ticked lower to log a 2.2% gain over 12 months, a tick below its December pace of 2.3%. The core inflation rate also [...]

Manufacturers' orders declined 1.4% (+6.6% y/y) during January following a 1.8% December rise, revised from 1.7% reported initially. Total factory orders excluding transportation improved 0.4% (6.5% y/y), the weakest rise since June. [...]

Retail gasoline prices of $2.56 per gallon last week (9.4% y/y) were little-changed versus the prior two weeks, up from the early-2016 lows near $1.76 per gallon. Prices have moved roughly sideways since September. Haver Analytics [...]

There are two sets of trends in February composite PMI readings. The first and most impressive story is how strong the readings are. The median reading in February is 55.2 with a median standing in the 91.8 the percentile of its five- [...]

Business activity in the service sector scaled back last month, but remained strong. The Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Activity from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) eased to 59.5 during February from an [...]

The year-on-year PPI for the EMU was lower in January as the pace dropped to a 1.5% year-over-year gain from 2.2% previously. Compared to the year-on-year pace of one year ago inflation decelerated to a 1.5% gain from 3.9%. And on [...]

The Industrial Materials Price Index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) rose 1.4% during the last four weeks (6.8% y/y) as factory sector production around the world continued to improve. The [...]