Economy in Brief

The total job openings rate stood at 3.7% during October, unchanged from September. It remained down from the record high of 3.9% in July. The private-sector job openings rate fell, however, to 3.9% from 4.0%, but was up slightly from [...]

Germany's industrial production has come through another period of relative turbulence. IP rose by 3.0% in August, fell by 1.6% in September, and expanded by a modest 0.3% in October. The upshot of these turbulent rates of growth is a [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index declined 0.7% last week (-2.4% y/y) to the lowest level since the first week of January. Refinancing applications fell 0.7% (-7.1% y/y), also to the [...]

Regular gasoline prices increased to $2.21 per gallon (7.5% y/y) last week, the highest level in four weeks. Prices remained down versus a 2014 high of $3.71 per gallon. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal [...]

Growth in nonfarm output per hour during Q3'16 was unrevised at 3.1% (SAAR, 0.0% y/y) following a 0.2% Q2 decline. A 3.3% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. It remained the strongest rise in two years. [...]

Manufacturing sector orders jumped 2.7% during October (1.3% y/y) following a 0.6% September gain, revised from 0.3%. Durable goods bookings increased 4.6% (1.8% y/y), revised from the advance estimate of a 4.8% rise. Transportation [...]

German orders surged in October, rising on a broad front. Both foreign and domestic orders jumped. Overall orders rose by 4.9% in October led by a 6.3% surge in domestic orders supported by a 3.9% gain in foreign orders. Order trend [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services increased to $42.6 billion during October from $36.2 billion in September, revised $36.4 billion. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected a $42.0 billion deficit. Total imports [...]