Economy in Brief

Euro area manufacturing is turning lower while the Markit reading for the U.S. turns higher. The Market manufacturing PMI for Europe fell to 52.0 in October while the U.S. Markit reading rose to 55.6 from 54.7. The more closely [...]

The labor market is robust, strong enough to lift workers' pay. Average hourly earnings increased 0.2% during October and raised the y/y increase to 3.1%, the strongest gain since April 2009. The rise matched expectations in the [...]

Manufacturers' orders increased 0.7% m/m (7.9% y/y) in September, on top of an upwardly revised 2.6% m/m jump in August. The Action Economics Forecast survey had looked for a 0.5% m/m rise. This was the sixth monthly increase thus far [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened further to $54.02 billion in September from a slightly upwardly revised $53.31 billion in August. This was the largest deficit since February. A deficit of $53.4 billion had been [...]

The labor market is robust, strong enough to lift workers' pay. Average hourly earnings increased 0.2% during October and raised the y/y increase to 3.1%, the strongest gain since April 2009. The rise matched expectations in the [...]

Output per hour in the nonfarm business sector grew 2.2% (SAAR, 1.3% y/y)) in Q3'18 following a 3.0% gain in Q2. A 2.0% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Nonfarm business output rose 4.1% (3.7% y/y) [...]

Sales of light vehicles increased 0.7% (-2.2% y/y) during October to 17.57 million units (SAAR), the highest level since November 2017. The latest gain followed a 4.3% September jump. Passenger car sales rose 4.8% (-12.8% y/y) last [...]

Global manufacturing PMIs mostly weakened in October as 10 of 17 reporting countries/regions were weaker on the month. That followed a month in which 11 of 17 weakened and the monthly before when 9 of 17 weakened. Over the last three [...]