Economy in Brief: March 2015

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that their total Mortgage Market Volume Index ticked 0.1% higher last week (10.3% y/y). Applications are down 25.1% during the last six weeks. Refinance applications improved 0.5% (17.1% y/y). [...]

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) composite index of nonmanufacturing sector activity nudged higher to 56.9 during February from an unrevised 56.7 in January. Nevertheless, the latest numbers remained well below the highs of [...]

The ADP/Moody's National Employment Report indicated that nonfarm private sector payrolls increased 212,000 last month (2.5% y/y). January's gain of 250,000 was revised from 213,000 while December's increase of 275,000 was revised [...]

The finalization of the EMU PMI indexes brought slightly weaker values to the report. Still, both the manufacturing and services sectors of the EMU are improving in February compared to their January values and each sector is showing [...]

Consumer's continue to shy away from auto dealerships. Sales of light vehicles declined 2.6% during February to 16.23 million (AR) from 16.66 million in January. It was the third straight month of decline. Sales have moved erratically [...]

The Institute for Supply Management reported that, for New York State, their February index of business conditions expected in six months increased to 71.7 and made up most of the prior month's decline. In addition, the reading for [...]

Gasoline prices continued upward by 14 cents last week to $2.47 per gallon (-28.9% y/y) following the prior week's 6 cent increase. Prices have risen 43 cents (21.0%) since the low 5 weeks ago. Despite the gains, prices remained well [...]

Prices in the euro area continue to push lower as weak growth and dropping energy prices undercut the strength from price trends on two separate fronts. As the chart shows, PPI and CPI trends are pressing lower in the EMU. The table [...]