Economy in Brief

Downward pressure on prices of internationally traded goods is ongoing. Import prices declined 2.8% during January (-8.0% y/y) following a revised 1.9% December fall, earlier reported as -2.5%. It was the largest of seven straight [...]

Total business inventories nudged just 0.1% higher in December (3.9% y/y) versus an unrevised 0.2% November rise. During the last three months, inventory growth slowed to 1.8% (AR) from its high of 7.6% late in 2013. Total business [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance increased to 304,000 during the week ended February 7 following a rise to 279,000 during the prior week, revised from 278,000. The four-week moving average of initial claims declined to [...]

Overall retail sales including food services & drinking places declined 0.8% last month following an unrevised 0.9% fall in December. A 0.5% shortfall had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Sales excluding autos [...]

In the EMU we see a great deal of variation in output by country and now we can see the EMU by sector performance. EMU IP (industrial production) less construction is flat in December and manufacturing output is flat as well. Year- [...]

The Federal Government reported a $17.544 billion budget deficit during January compared to a $10.250 billion deficit during January of 2014. For the first four months of Fiscal Year 2015, the deficit of $194.209 billion compares to a [...]

French trade and current account trends are showing progress despite the step back into deficit for France's current account in December. The December current account deficit is still 1.9 billion euros, smaller than it was one year [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that their total Mortgage Market Volume Index declined 9.0% last week (+26.3% y/y) following a 1.3% improvement during the prior week. Refinance applications fell 10.3% (+41.8% y/y). Home [...]