Economy in Brief

The Autodata Corporation reported that sales of light vehicles during June edged down by 0.7% (up 0.3% y/y) to 17.28 million units (SAAR). Total vehicle sales have been moving sideways for the past four years at what the auto industry [...]

The EMU PPI fell by 0.2% in May, dropping for the second month in a row. The year-over-year rate dropped sharply to 1.7% from 2.6% largely because May of one year ago had seen the PPI rise by 0.7% month-to-month. Comparisons are going [...]

U.S. retail gasoline prices increased for the first time in eight weeks, rising to $2.71 (-4.6% y/y) per gallon during the week ended July 1. Haver Analytics calculates factors that adjust for the seasonal variation in gasoline pump [...]

Manufacturing PMIs globally are weak and are weakening again. We feature a chart on China's manufacturing components since China is so much a part of this story with its involvement in a trade war. As of this month, China's [...]

The value of construction put-in-place declined 0.8% (-1.5% y/y) during May following a 0.4% April gain, revised from unchanged. A 0.2% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Construction in the private sector [...]

Factory sector activity remains under pressure. The ISM manufacturing index declined to 51.7 during June from 52.1 in May. It remained the lowest level since October 2016 and was below the expansion peak of 60.8 last August. The [...]

The Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer increased to 54.2 during May .......... The MNI Chicago Report is produced by MNI in partnership with ISM-Chicago. The survey covers a sample of over 200 purchasing professionals in [...]

EMU inflation rose by 0.1% in June with the core rate rising by 0.2%. Over three months, the pace is muted. Inflation also is muted over six months and 12 months. Headline inflation has no trend, but it is slightly faster-rising over [...]