Economy in Brief: 2015

French trade and current account trends are showing progress despite the step back into deficit for France's current account in December. The December current account deficit is still 1.9 billion euros, smaller than it was one year [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that their total Mortgage Market Volume Index declined 9.0% last week (+26.3% y/y) following a 1.3% improvement during the prior week. Refinance applications fell 10.3% (+41.8% y/y). Home [...]

Inventories at the wholesale level during all of last year increased 6.7%, the fastest rate since 2011. During December, however, the gain slipped back to just 0.1% after an unrevised 0.8% jump in November. Durable goods inventories [...]

The job openings rate during December jumped to 3.5%, a record high. During all of 2014, the 3.5% rate was near the record reached in 2000. The job openings rate is the number of job openings on the last business day of the month as a [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index for January declined to 97.9 from the unrevised high of 100.4 during December. The figure, nevertheless, remained near its highest level [...]

European industrial output rose in the core EMU countries in December with Germany, France and Italy, the three largest EMU economies showing output gains. Germany and Italy have posted three consecutive monthly gains while France is [...]

Average gasoline prices improved another 12 cents last week to $2.19 per gallon (-33.8% y/y) following the prior week's 3 cent lift from the low. Prices peaked at $3.70 per gallon this past June. Haver Analytics constructs factors [...]

The Labor Market Conditions Index (LMCI) is a tool created by the Federal Reserve Board to assess changes in labor market conditions. It draws on 19 indicators, from broad measures like the unemployment rate to narrower indicators [...]