Consumer Sentiment
The University of Michigan's Consumer Survey Center questions 600 households each month on their financial conditions and attitudes about the economy. Consumer sentiment is directly related to the strength of consumer spending. Consumer confidence and consumer sentiment are two ways of talking about consumer attitudes. Among economic reports, consumer sentiment refers to the Michigan survey while consumer confidence refers to The Conference Board's survey. Preliminary estimates for a month are released at mid-month. Final estimates for a month are released near the end of the month.
Business Inventories
Business inventories are the dollar amount of inventories held by manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers. The level of inventories in relation to sales is an important indicator of the near-term direction of production activity.
Industrial Production
The Federal Reserve's monthly index of industrial production and the related capacity indexes and capacity utilization rates cover manufacturing, mining, and electric and gas utilities. The industrial sector, together with construction, accounts for the bulk of the variation in national output over the course of the business cycle. The production index measures real output and is expressed as a percentage of real output in a base year, currently 2012. The capacity index, which is an estimate of sustainable potential output, is also expressed as a percentage of actual output in 2012. The rate of capacity utilization equals the seasonally adjusted output index expressed as a percentage of the related capacity index.
The index of industrial production is available nationally by market and industry groupings. The major groupings are comprised of final products (such as consumer goods, business equipment and construction supplies), intermediate products and materials. The industry groupings are manufacturing (further subdivided into durable and nondurable goods), mining and utilities. The capacity utilization rate -- reflecting the resource utilization of the nation's output facilities -- is available for the same market and industry groupings.
Industrial production was also revised to NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) in the early 2000s. Unlike other economic series that lost much historical data prior to 1992, the Federal Reserve Board was able to reconstruct historical data that go back more than 30 years.
Empire State Mfg Survey
The New York Fed conducts this monthly survey of manufacturers in New York State. Participants from across the state represent a variety of industries. On the first of each month, the same pool of roughly 200 manufacturing executives (usually the CEO or the president) is sent a questionnaire to report the change in an assortment of indicators from the previous month. Respondents also give their views about the likely direction of these same indicators six months ahead.
Retail Sales
Retail sales measure the total receipts at stores that sell merchandise and related services to final consumers. Sales are by retail and food services stores. Data are collected from the Monthly Retail Trade Survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Essentially, retail sales cover the durables and nondurables portions of consumer spending. Consumer spending typically accounts for about two-thirds of GDP and is therefore a key element in economic growth. Of special attention is the control group; this is an input into the consumer spending component of GDP and excludes food services, autos, gasoline and building materials.
Jobless Claims
New unemployment claims are compiled weekly to show the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time. An increasing (decreasing) trend suggests a deteriorating (improving) labor market. The four-week moving average of new claims smooths out weekly volatility.
Import and Export Prices
Import price indexes are compiled for the prices of goods that are bought in the United States but produced abroad and export price indexes are compiled for the prices of goods sold abroad but produced domestically. These prices, which exclude tariffs and taxes, measure underlying inflationary trends in internationally traded products.
PPI-FD
The Producer Price Index (PPI) of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a family of indexes that measures the average change over time in the prices received by domestic producers of goods and services. PPIs measure price change from the perspective of the seller. Effective with the January 2014 PPI data release in February 2014, BLS transitioned from the Stage of Processing (SOP) to the Final Demand-Intermediate Demand (FD-ID) aggregation system. The headline PPI (for Final Demand) measures price changes for goods, services, and construction sold to final demand: personal consumption, capital investment, government purchases, and exports.
CPI
The Consumer Price Index is a measure of the change in the average price level of a fixed basket of goods and services purchased by consumers. Monthly changes in the CPI represent the rate of inflation for the consumer. Annual inflation is also closely watched.
The consumer price index is available nationally by expenditure category and by commodity and service group for all urban consumers (CPI-U) and wage earners (CPI-W). All urban consumers are a more inclusive group, representing about 87 percent of the population. The CPI-U is the more widely quoted of the two, although cost-of-living contracts for unions and Social Security benefits are usually tied to the CPI-W, because it has a longer history. Monthly variations between the two are slight.
The CPI is also available by size of city, by region of the country, for cross-classifications of regions and population-size classes, and for many metropolitan areas. The regional and city CPIs are often used in local contracts.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics also produces a chain-weighted index called the Chained CPI. This measures a variable basket of goods and services whereas the regular CPI-U and CPI-W measure a fixed basket of goods and services. The Chained CPI is similar to the personal consumption expenditure price index that is closely monitored by the Federal Reserve Board.
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Mugur Isărescu: National Bank of Romania - 140th anniversary
Speech by Mr Mugur Isărescu, Governor of the National Bank of Romania, Bucharest, 29 April 2020.
Benjamin E Diokno: The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipina's response to the Covid-19 pandemic
Speech by Mr Benjamin E Diokno, Governor of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP, the central bank of the Philippines), at an investor call with Standard Chartered Bank, Manila, 22 April 2020.
Philip Lowe: An economic and financial update
Address by Mr Philip Lowe, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, at the Reserve Bank of Australia, Sydney, 21 April 2020.
Fabio Panetta: Why we all need a joint European fiscal response
Contribution by Mr Fabio Panetta, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, published by Politico on 21 April 2020.
Luis de Guindos: Interview in Expresso
Interview with Mr Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the European Central Bank, and Expresso, conducted by Mr João Silvestre on 15 April 2020.
Olli Rehn: A globally symmetric crisis calls for a globally coordinated and forceful policy response
Remarks by Mr Olli Rehn, Governor of the Bank of Finland, at the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee Panel Discussion on "The world economy transformed: Reflections on policy responses and the future post pandemic monetary architecture", in the context of the virtual IMF Spring Meetings, Washington DC, 17 April 2020.
Ignazio Visco: Statement - meeting of the Development Committee
Statement by Mr Ignazio Visco, Governor of the Bank of Italy and Governor of the Constituency of Albania, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, San Marino and Timor-Leste, at the 101st Meeting (virtual) of the Development Committee (Joint Ministerial Committee of the Boards of Governors of the Bank and the Fund on the Transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries), Washington DC, 17 April 2020.
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Introductory remarks by Mr Thomas Jordan, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, at the Media News Conference of the Swiss National Bank, Berne, 25 March 2020.
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Remarks by Benoît Cœuré, Head of the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub, at the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee - Chamber of Digital Commerce webinar on "The world economy transformed", 17 April 2020.
John C Williams: A time for bold action
Remarks (delivered via videoconference) by Mr John C Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, at the Economic Club of New York, New York City, 16 April 2020.
Stephen S Poloz: Release of the Monetary Policy Report
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Remarks by Ms Isabel Schnabel, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, at a 24-Hour Global Webinar co-organised by the SAFE Policy Center on "The COVID-19 Crisis and Its Aftermath: Corporate Governance Implications and Policy Challenges", Frankfurt am Main, 16 April 2020.
Christine Lagarde: Interview with France Inter
Interview with Ms Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, and France Inter, conducted by Mr Ali Baddou and Ms Carine Bécard on 9 April 2020.
Christine Lagarde: Interview in Le Parisien
Interview with Ms Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, and Le Parisien, conducted by Mr Matthieu Pelloli and published on 9 April 2020.
Luis de Guindos: Interview in La Vanguardia
Interview with Mr Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the European Central Bank, and La Vanguardia, conducted by Mr Manel Pérez and published on 12 April 2020.
François Villeroy de Galhau: From the emergency crisis response to initial thinking on the post-crisis environment
Hearing of Mr François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Bank of France, before the Section for the Economy and Finance of the French Economic, Social and Environmental Council, Paris, 8 April 2020.
Jerome H Powell: Covid-19 and the economy
Speech (via webcast)by Mr Jerome H Powell, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, at the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, The Brookings Institution, Washington DC, 9 April 2020.
Isabel Schnabel: Interview in To Vima
Interview with Ms Isabel Schnabel, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, in To Vima (Greek daily newspaper), conducted by Mr Angelos Athanasopoulos and published on 4 April 2020.
Fehmi Mehmeti: The Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo has taken steps to protect the economy from Covid-19 damages
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Dimitar Radev: The Bulgarian banking sector under Covid-19
Publication by Mr Dimitar Radev, Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, in the Quarterly Bulletin of the Association of Banks in Bulgaria, issue 61, March 2020.
Global liquidity indicators
The term global liquidity is used by the BIS to mean the ease of financing in global financial markets. Credit is among the key indicators of global liquidity, and is the focus of the quarterly indicators estimated by the BIS.
BIS global liquidity indicators at end-December 2019
US dollar credit to non-bank borrowers outside the United States grew by 6% in 2019, to reach $12.2 trillion at end-2019. The annual growth rate of euro-denominated credit outside the euro area slowed to 6%, while that of yen-denominated credit outside Japan turned negative (-1%). In 2019, euro-denominated credit overtook US dollar-denominated credit as the largest stock of foreign currency credit to emerging Europe. The debt securities share in US dollar credit outside the United States has risen considerably over the past decade across a number of major borrowing regions.
Consolidated banking statistics
The consolidated banking statistics provide quarterly data on the worldwide consolidated positions of banks headquartered in reporting countries. They are designed to analyse the exposure of internationally active banks of different nationalities to individual countries and sectors.
Locational banking statistics
The locational banking statistics provide quarterly data on the outstanding claims and liabilities of internationally active banks located in reporting countries against counterparties residing in more than 200 countries. They capture the currency composition of banks' balance sheets and the geographical breakdown of their counterparties.
BIS international banking statistics at end-December 2019
The annual growth rate of global cross-border bank claims fell to 6%, down from 9% at end-September 2019. The short-term share of foreign banks' claims, a key indicator of external vulnerability, is elevated for a number of borrowing emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs). Borrowers in EMDEs had untapped credit lines of $610 billion, or roughly 10% of the stock of global foreign claims on EMDEs at end-2019. Saudi Arabia joined the reporting population for the locational banking statistics (LBS) with data starting from Q4 2017, bringing the number of countries reporting these data to 48.
Exchange-traded derivatives statistics
The exchange-traded derivatives statistics provide monthly data on the turnover, and quarterly data on the open interest, of foreign exchange and interest rate futures and options. They refer to notional amounts, which enables comparisons of levels and trends in activity across different markets.
Debt securities statistics
The debt securities statistics provide quarterly data on borrowing in money and bond markets, distinguishing between international and domestic markets.
Residential property prices: selected series (nominal and real)
Global real residential property prices rose 1.4% year/year in aggregate in Q3 2019, reflecting subdued developments both in advanced (+ 1.5%) and emerging market economies (+ 1.3%).