Consumer Sentiment

March 15, 2024 The preliminary estimate of consumer sentiment for March declined 0.4 point to 76.5 after having fallen 2.1 points in February . Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu said, “Consumer sentiment moved little this month with a 0.4 index point...

Industrial Production

March 15, 2024 Industrial production rose 0.1% in February after having fallen 0.5% in January.  In the past year industrial production has declined 0.2%.  The manufacturing sector has been essentially unchanged for the past year. Breaking industrial production down...

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...

Initial Unemployment Claims

March 14, 2024 Initial unemployment claims fell 1 thousand in the week ending March 9 to 209,000 after declining 3 thousand in the previous week.  Thus far, in the face of rising interest rates and the fear of a recession, employers are reluctant to lay off workers. ...

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...