Inflation in the South running at almost twice that in the North-East. Los Angeles area experiencing price deflation, while the San Francisco Bay Area’s inflation rate is 60% higher than the national average. Read More
Posts Categorized: Release Observations
Capacity Utilization – Possible leading indicator?
Manufacturing utilization has been roughly level for a year and a half. Meanwhile, capacity utilization in the Non-Durable goods manufacturing sector is falling, and in a manner which has presaged recessions in the past. Read More
Retail Sales: Up 0.4% in October
An increase (seasonally adjusted) of $1730M, of which $1,056M came from Motor Vehicles & Parts Dealers. This series has been very volatile and dominant recently. Apart from Gas Stations, where prices dropped 10%, almost all other sections saw growth. Read More
Consumer Prices: CPI-W Inflation falls to 0.77%
CPI-U inflation at 0.94%. Gas prices fall by 10% (seasonally adjusted) in October, contributing -0.2% to the change in the overall indexes. Read More
Industrial Production, down 0.14% in October
Manufacturing Contributed 0.23% points, Mining -0.25% points, Utilities -0.11% points. Minor revisions to prior months. Read More
Trade Balance: August deficit widens by $3.1bn to $41.8bn
Roughly $2bn of the increase came from Crude Oil imports, Fuel Oil exports, and Non-Monetary Gold exports. Read More
October Unemployment – Gov. furloughs cloud the picture
Headline U.3 rose from 7.2% to 7.3%. However, more precise, two-decimal rate shows modest 0.04% rise. Furloughed government workers contribution not known, but half of what it should have been due to reporting confusion. Read More