Economy in Brief

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) index of U.S. house prices rose 0.4% in October after an unrevised 0.6% gain in September. The y/y change remained fairly steady at 6.2%, as the three-month annualized growth in prices ran [...]

Led by a 13.2% drop in orders for transportation equipment (after a 12.3% m/m surge in October), U.S. durable goods orders recoiled in November, retreating 4.6% m/m (-1.9%y/y) following an upwardly revised 4.8% m/m jump in October. [...]

Economic growth during the third quarter was revised higher to 3.5% (1.7% y/y), up from 3.2% in the second estimate and 2.9% in the advance reading. It remained the strongest increase in two years and exceeded the expectation of 3.3% [...]

France is the perfect picture of the oncoming ECB dilemma. Inflation is rising (PPI here) but not so high. The PPI and core CPI (note sideways momentum in core CPI and mild uptrend in core PPI) show modest pressure on year-over-year [...]

The housing market remains firm. Sales of existing homes improved 0.7% (15.4% y/y) during November to 5.610 million units (AR) from 5.570 million in October, revised from 5.600 million. The latest level was the highest since February [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index increased 2.5% last week (-9.5% y/y), but made up just part of the prior week's 4.0% decline. Since their peak early in July, applications have [...]

Regular gasoline prices rose to $2.26 per gallon (11.7% y/y) last week, the highest level since early in October. Prices remained down, however, versus a 2014 high of $3.71 per gallon. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for [...]

The EMU-wide current account and trade balances both contracted in October. Exports fell for the second month in a row while imports rose, more than shaking off their decline in September. In terms of 12-month trends, exports are [...]