Economic Overview

This week, The Economist published an overview of the previous weeks economic headlines. Here is the article:

Economic and financial indicators
America's businesses, excluding farms, added 121,000 workers to their payrolls in June. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.6%. America's trade deficit in goods and services reached $63.8 billion in May, thanks in part to higher oil prices. Its biggest bilateral deficit, with China, expanded to $17.71 billion from $17.03 billion in April.

Industrial production in Germany and France made big gains in May. Increases in manufacturing and construction raised German industrial output by 1.5% from the previous month and 6% from a year earlier. In France production rose by 2%, the biggest gain in six months, leaving it 2.7% higher than in May 2005.

In Japan core orders for machinery, which exclude those from ship builders and electricity companies, fell by less than expected in May. The 2.1% drop from the previous month was less than forecasts of over 5%, suggesting that investment spending may be stronger than expected. Meanwhile, producer prices in Japan rose by 3.3% in the year to June.

Average earnings in Britain increased faster than expected in the three months from March to May, at an annual pace of 4.1%. Pay was boosted by bonuses in financial services and the public sector. Unemployment hit a 5½-year high of 5.4%, largely because of a growing labour pool.

Emerging-market indicators
China chalked up a record trade surplus of $14.5 billion in June, compared with $13 billion in May. In the past 12 months it has accumulated a surplus of $123 billion. Russia's surplus for the year to May was even bigger, reaching $136 billion.

Brazil's consumer prices dropped by 0.2% in June, the biggest fall since 1998, because of cheaper ethanol and food. Consumer prices were still 4% higher than a year before.