Economy in Brief: 2012

The Conference Board's revised leading indicator index ("LEI") rose 0.4% in December, following 0.2% in November. For all of 2011, the index was up 2.8% December/December and 5.1% on average for the year over 2010. Despite the [...]

The GFK index of German consumer confidence gives hardly any notion of it being a country in the middle of a zone beset with real economic troubles. In the graphic, the GFK confidence line portrays a very steady ongoing upward rise [...]

The market for new homes remains under pressure. Total new home sales fell 2.2% last month to 307,000 (AR) and reversed the little-revised 2.3% November gain. Sales fell short of Consensus expectations for 320,000. Indeed, last year [...]

New orders for durable goods increased 3.0% last month following a 4.3% rise during November. The full-year gain in orders of 10.1% after the 15.4% rise in 2010 and was consistent with other indications of factory sector improvement [...]

The Chicago Fed's National Activity Index (CFNAI) provided another indication of modest economic improvement. For December, the index rose to 0.17 from -0.46 in November, which was little-revised. The latest figure was its highest [...]

First-time claims for jobless insurance rose last week but the recent trend lower remained intact. Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 377,000 last week from 356,000 during the previous period (revised from 352,000). [...]

A one-month drop belies a firming trend. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that December pending sales of single-family homes fell 3.5% (+5.6% y/y) following two months of strong increase. Sales rose 7.3% in November [...]

The index of total mortgage applications slipped 5.0% last week to 663.1 (March 16, 1990 = 100). The decline followed the prior week's nearly one-quarter jump. As borrowers took advantage of low interest rates, applications to [...]