Economy in Brief

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Volume Index declined 6.2% (-17.9% y/y) in the week ended June 23, after a 0.6% rise. It was the lowest level of applications in four weeks. Purchase [...]

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that pending home sales fell 0.8% during May to an index level of 108.5 following a 1.7% April fall, revised from -1.3%. The index is reported on a 2001=100 basis. Pending sales [...]

The year-on-year growth rates of money and credit in the EMU (loans to the private sector) show a leveling off of money growth at the 4.5% to 5% mark with recent growth perhaps creeping up at a pace of 1 to 1.5%. Mario Draghi has [...]

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index rose 1.1% during June (22.1% y/y) to 118.9, following a little-revised 1.5% decline during May to 117.6. The index was 4.8% below its March peak, which was its highest level since [...]

Regular gasoline prices fell to $2.29 per gallon last week (-1.8% y/y), the lowest level since early-February. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in gasoline pump prices. The seasonally adjusted [...]

Italian consumer and business confidence rose in June. Business confidence reverses the decline of last month but still leaves the June reading below the level of April, but just ahead of March. Consumer confidence for June also rose [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas indicated in its Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey that the General Business Activity Index eased in June to 15.0, the lowest level since November. The production reading dropped sharply to the [...]

The IFO ordinary indexes (see Chart) continue to climb in June. The ordinary IFO indexes (not the diffusion indexes) are at their highest marks since January 1991 for both the headline and the current index. The expectation index has [...]