Economy in Brief: September 2015

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Business eased to 59.0 during August from an unrevised 60.3 in July. These figures are the highest since the middle of 2005. Consensus expectations [...]

These foreign trade figures add to the preliminary numbers released last Friday by including trade in services and by country. The U.S. foreign trade deficit in goods and services during July eased to $41.9 billion from $45.2 billion [...]

The EMU PMI rose to 54.3 in August from 53.9 in July. The sequential PMI averages show a steady but very slow upward march in the EMU total PMI. The current August manufacturing PMI is still below the three-month average. [...]

New orders in the manufacturing sector improved 0.4% during July (-15.2% y/y) following a 2.2% June jump. A 0.7% rise was expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Durable goods orders rose 2.2% (-20.2% y/y) following 4.1% [...]

Nonfarm productivity growth during Q2'15 was revised higher to 3.3% from 1.3% reported initially (SAAR). Revision to 2.3% growth was expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Last quarter's gain followed two of quarters of [...]

The ADP/Moody's National Employment Report indicated that nonfarm private sector payrolls increased 190,000 during August following a 177,000 July rise, initially reported as 185,000. The gain fell short of consensus expectations for [...]

The PPI headline shows a monthly drop of 0.2% in July and a year-over-year decline of 2.1%. Two of the three PPI components are declining year-over-year. Those two are consumer goods and intermediate goods. Capital goods prices are up [...]

The light vehicle market remains on fire. Total sales of light vehicles increased 1.5% during August to 17.81 million units (SAAR, 2.8% y/y). It was the highest level of sales since July 2005. Light truck purchases led last month's [...]