Economy in Brief

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo fell 3.0% to 65 during February (+12.1% y/y) following an unrevised decline to 67 in January. The NAHB figures are seasonally adjusted. [...]

The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions for February jumped to 18.7 from 6.5 in January. It was the highest level since September 2014. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 7.0. These data, [...]

Total retail sales and spending at restaurants increased 0.4% (4.9% y/y) in January following a 1.0% December rise, which was revised from 0.6%. A more modest 0.1% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]

Industrial production decreased 0.3% m/m (+0.1% y/y) in January following a downwardly revised 0.6% m/m increase in December. The consensus from the Action Economics Survey had looked for an unchanged reading for total production. In [...]

The Consumer Price Index jumped 0.6% during January following a 0.3% December gain. It was the strongest rise since February 2013 and lifted y/y growth to 2.5%. Expectations had been for a 0.3% gain in the Action Economic Forecast [...]

Regular gasoline prices moved up to $2.31 per gallon (33.8% y/y) last week following a decline to $2.29 per gallon in the prior week. Prices peaked at $2.39 early last month and remained down from a 2014 high of $3.71 per gallon. [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index ticked 0.1% higher during January (12.8% y/y) to 105.9 following a 7.5% December surge. It was the strongest level of optimism since [...]

GDP in the EU economy was up at a 1.6% annualized rate in Q4 and up by 1.7% year-on-year. German GDP recovered after a weak Q3 to expand at a 1.7% annualized Q4 pace and is up by 1.8% over four-quarters. The top annualized Q4 growth [...]