Australia's unemployment rate rose to the highest since 2021 in April, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed Thursday. The unemployment rate rose to 4.5 percent in April from 4.3 percent in March. This was the highest since November 2021, when the rate was 4.6 percent. The number...
The value of core machinery orders in Japan was down a seasonally adjusted 9.4 percent on month in March, the Cabinet Office said on Thursday - coming in at 1,010.9 billion yen. That missed forecasts for a decline of 7.7 percent after jumping 13.6 percent in February. On a yearly basis, orders...
Japan posted a merchandise trade surplus of 301.9 billion yen in April, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday. That blew away forecasts for a deficit of 29.7 billion yen following the 643.0 billion yen surplus in March. Exports were up 14.8 percent on year to 10.507 trillion yen, beating expectations...
The manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in May, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Thursday with a manufacturing PMI score of 50.2. That's down from 51.3 in April, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from...
New Zealand posted a merchandise trade surplus of NZ$1.920 billion in April, Statistics New Zealand said on Thursday. That blew away expectations for s surplus of NZ$980 million following the downwardly revised NZ$430 million surplus in March (originally NZ$698 million). Exports came in at NZ$8.62...
Australia will on Thursday release April numbers for unemployment, highlighting a bust day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. The jobless rate is expected to hold steady at 4.3 percent, with the addition of 16,700 jobs following the increase of 17,900 jobs in March. The participation rate is also...
Producer prices in South Korea climbed 2.5 percent on month in April, the Bank of Korea said on Thursday - up from 1.7 percent in March. Individually, prices for agricultural, forestry and marine products slipped 1.0 percent on month, while manufacturing products jumped 4.4 percent, utilities rose...
While the Federal Reserve's decision to once again leave interest rates unchanged last month was widely anticipated, the vote on the decision and the accompanying statement was unusually divided. The minutes of the Fed's April 28-29, released Wednesday afternoon, provided some additional details about officials' mixed views about the outlook for rates.
The Treasury Department announced the results of this month's auction of $16 billion worth of twenty-year bonds on Wednesday, revealing the sale attracted below average demand. The twenty-year bond auction drew a high yield of 5.122 percent and a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.55. Last month, the Treasury...
The Energy Information Administration released a report on Wednesday showing crude oil inventories in the U.S. tumbled by much more than expected in the week ended May 15th. The report said crude oil inventories plunged by 7.9 million barrels last week after slumping by 4.3 million barrels in the...
Luxembourg's unemployment rate held steady for the third straight month in April. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate came in at 6.3 percent in April, the same as in the previous three months. In the corresponding month last year, the rate was 5.9 percent. The number of unemployed people was 20,265 compared to 20,323 in the previous month.
Slovakia's EU measure of inflation increased in April to the highest level in three months. The EU measure of the harmonized index of consumer prices, or HICP, rose 4.1 percent year-on-year in April, faster than the 3.7 percent increase in March. Inflation based on transportation accelerated sharply to 7.2 percent from 2.1 percent, and health costs were 4.8 percent more expensive.
Italy's construction output decreased for the fifth successive month in March. Construction production dropped 0.7 percent month-on-month in March, following a 0.1 percent decrease in the previous month. The annual outcome was also a decrease of 0.2 percent versus a 0.8 percent rebound in February.
U.K. consumer price inflation eased more than expected in April reflecting the fall in energy bills due to the price cap but the slowdown is expected to be temporary given the spike in oil prices amid the ongoing war in the Middle East. Consumer price inflation slowed to 2.8 percent in April from 3.3 percent in March, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday.
Households in Belgium expressed a more pessimistic attitude in May, mainly due to continued unemployment concerns. The consumer sentiment index dropped to -10 in May from -9.0 in the previous month. Moreover, this was the lowest reading since April 2025, when it was -14. The index reflecting unemployment fears among households climbed to 14 from 6.
May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.