Economy in Brief

New orders for durable goods declined 1.1% during May following an unrevised 0.9% April fall. Despite the decline, orders increased 2.7% y/y after falling 1.7% during all of last year. A 0.6% decrease in orders had been expected in [...]

Sales of new single-family homes increased 2.9% during May (8.9% y/y) to 610,000 from 593,000 in April, revised from 569,000. Despite the increase, sales were 5.3% below the March peak. Expectations had been for 595,000 sales in the [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City reported that its index of regional manufacturing sector business activity rose to 11 in June, following an unrevised improvement to eight in May. It remained down sharply from the March reading [...]

The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators increased 0.3% (3.5% y/y) during May following a 0.2% April gain, revised from 0.3%. A 0.3% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Three- [...]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) index of U.S. house prices rose at a 9.1% annualized rate during the last three reported months, the strongest rate since May 2013. During April, the index increased 0.7% (6.9% y/y) [...]

Climate backs off in month as year-on-year gains continue their small pick up The French industrial climate gauge backtracked slightly to 108.4 in June from 108.8 in May. The rank or queue standing of the index falls into its 78th [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ended June 17 increased to 241,000 (-7.9% y/y) from 238,000 during the prior week, revised from 237,000. Expectations called for 240,000 claims in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

Japan's sector indices from METI show gains across the board led by a huge rise in Construction. The construction index jumped by 8.1 points in April the largest month-to-month gain in the history of the series that goes back to early [...]