Economy in Brief: June 2009

A diverse group of European countries--Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Malta and Portugal--reported their first quarter GDPs today. Cyprus, the second smallest country in terms of population in the Euro Area, was one of [...]

German industrial production fell by a sharp 1.9% m/m in April. The April drop follows a small gain of 0.3% in March. The pace of decline in IP is slowing down in the recent three-month period as its negative growth rate (saar) is [...]

German orders are FLAT in April: what’s so good about that? German orders have been decimated over the past year with only two month-to-month gains in the past twelve months against a slew of huge month-to-month declines. This month’s [...]

German orders are FLAT in April: what’s so good about that? German orders have been decimated over the past year with only two month-to-month gains in the past twelve months against a slew of huge month-to-month declines. This month’s [...]

For the second month in a row there was a rise in the April estimate of the OECD composite leading indicator for all 29 countries, suggesting that, on average, the pace of economic deterioration may be slowing in the major [...]

For the second month in a row there was a rise in the April estimate of the OECD composite leading indicator for all 29 countries, suggesting that, on average, the pace of economic deterioration may be slowing in the major [...]

Shifting trends - The chart above is a classic example of shifting trends. While the central banks tend to focus on yr/yr prices viewing those changes are more ‘reliable,’ there is no doubt that shorter measures give more up to data. [...]

The May figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated moderation in the rate of job loss, though the labor market remains quite weak. Nonfarm payrolls fell 345,000 last month and that was the smallest monthly decline since [...]