Menu

U.S. import prices rose 0.3 percent in September, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Over the past five months, import prices have shown little net change. Export prices increased 0.4 percent in September after advancing 0.5 percent the previous month.

A telephone survey conducted among 1,000 U.S. adults by Ipsos Public Affairs commissioned by Offers.com found that, given the state of the economy, 87 percent of respondents are planning to spend the same or less during the upcoming holiday season than they did in 2010. The survey also found that almost half of consumers have been looking for deals throughout the year when shopping for those on their holiday gift list, while just 18 percent are planning to wait to shop on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Only 48 percent plan to look for online coupons or coupon codes to stretch their holiday spending dollars before making a purchase.

The first estimate for euro area (EA17) trade with the rest of the world in August 2011 gave a 3.4 bn euro deficit, compared with -6.3 bn euro in August 2010. The July 2011 balance was +2.5 bn, compared with +4.6 bn in July 2010. In August 2011 compared with July 2011, seasonally adjusted exports rose by 4.7% and imports by 2.7%.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index®(LEI) for Spain declined 0.2 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index®(CEI) increased 0.2 percent in August.

There were 3.1 million job openings on the last business day of August, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The hires rate (3.1 percent) and separations rate (3.0 percent) were essentially unchanged over the month. The job openings rate has trended upward slowly since the end of the recession in June 2009 (as determined by the National Bureau of Economic Research). This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the nonfarm sector by industry and by geographic region.

Euro area annual inflation was 3.0% in September 2011, up from 2.5% in August. A year earlier the rate was 1.9%. Monthly inflation was 0.8% in September 2011. EU annual inflation was 3.3% in September 2011, up from 2.9% in August. A year earlier the rate was 2.3%. Monthly inflation was 0.6% in September 2011.

In August 2011 compared with July 2011, seasonally adjusted industrial production rose by 1.2% in the euro area (EA17) and by 0.9% in the EU27. In July production grew by 1.1% and 0.9% respectively. In August 2011 compared with August 2010, industrial production increased by 5.3% in the euro area and by 4.3% in the EU27.

In 2010 there were just over 12 million agricultural holdings and an utilised agricultural area (UAA) of 170 million hectares in the EU27. Compared with 2003, the number of holdings decreased by 20% and the utilised agricultural area by 2%, showing a tendency towards larger holdings. The average size of a holding was 14 hectares in the EU27 in 2010, compared with 12 ha per holding in 2003.

Nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 103,000 in September, and the unemployment rate held at 9.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The increase in employment partially reflected the return to payrolls of about 45,000 telecommunications workers who had been on strike in August. In September, job gains occurred in professional and business services, health care, and construction. Government employment continued to trend down.

In August 2011 the euro area composite interest rates on deposits for both households and non-financial corporations decreased. In the same month, the composite lending rate for euro area non-financial corporation decreased whereas it increased for households.