Producer Price Index

March 14, 2024 The Producer Price Index for final demand  includes producer prices for goods, as well as prices for construction, services, government purchases, and exports and covers over 75% of domestic production. Producer prices for final demand jumped 0.6% in...

Retail Sales

March 14, 2024 Retail sales rose 0.6% in February after having declined 1.1% in January.  In the past year retail sales have risen by 1.9%.  Weather undoubtedly played a role in depressing January sales.  Having said that, we would have expected a larger increase in...

Consumer Price Index

March 12, 2924 The CPI rose 0.4% in February after climbing 0.3% in January. The year-over-year increase is currently 3.2%.  We expect the CPI to increase 3.3% in 2024.  While the markets are convinced that inflation will continue to improve rapidly, that is unlikely...

Payroll Employment

March 8, 2024 Payroll employment jumped by 275 thousand in January after climbing 229 thousand in January and 290 thousand in December.  In the past three months the average increase has been 265 thousand.  The February increase was larger than the 195 thousand...