Economy in Brief

After looking at all the monetary stimulus and special lending programs that the ECB has unleashed then turning to look at these charts, you have to wonder if money even matters. Clearly to some, such a statement is anathema. But such [...]

Italy is showing some weakening economic trends ahead of its early December referendum. And while everyone is still buzzing about Brexit and the Trump election in the U.S., the Fed continues to talk of potential Brexit risks as though [...]

EMU PMIs make a push for the mediocre levels of readings that prevailed earlier in this cycle. The EMU is improving and the very weak readings of 2016 are being put behind it. Still, there is a long way to go to reach true normalcy [...]

Sales of new single-family homes during October declined 1.9% (+17.8% y/y) to 563,000 (AR) from 574,000 sales in September, revised from 593,000. Sales of 590,000 had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The decline [...]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) index of U.S. house prices increased 0.6% during September following an unrevised 0.7% August gain. The y/y change remained fairly steady at 6.1%, but three-month growth in prices improved [...]

Initial unemployment insurance claims increased 18,000 (-4.9% y/y) to 251,000 during the week ended November 19 following a fall to 233,000 claims in the week prior, revised from 235,000. It remained the lowest level of claims since [...]

Led by a 12.0% m/m jump in orders for transportation equipment, U.S. durable goods orders surged a much larger-than-expected 4.8% m/m (2.1% y/y) in October. The Action Economics Forecast Survey had looked for a 1.0% m/m increase. And [...]

Sales of existing homes increased 2.0% (5.9% y/y) during October to 5.600 million (AR) after a 3.6% increase to 5.490 million in September, revised up from 5.470 million. The latest level was the highest since February 2007. [...]