Economy in Brief: April 2019

The February German report on industrial production shows a 0.7% gain after a flat result in January that has been revised up from a decline previously. The industrial sector is mixed. The headline shows a 5.9% annual rate of increase [...]

The March jobs report added to other indications that economic activity perked up last month. After having been restrained by bad winter weather in February, auto sales, the ISM factory index and existing home sales each rose. [...]

The chart of year-on-year growth rates pretty much tells the story. Domestic orders in Germany have been weak and declining since early in 2018. The pace of their erosion has been both steady and relentless. But foreign order growth [...]

The labor market remains strong. Initial unemployment insurance claims declined to 202,000 (-9.2% y/y) during the week ended March 30 from 212,000 in the prior week, revised from 211,000. It was the lowest level of claims since the [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services fell to $51.15 billion during January from $59.90 billion in December.......... The international trade data as well as oil prices can be found in Haver's USECON database. Detailed figures [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Index rose 1.6% (1.8% y/y) during the week ending March 15........ The survey covers over 75% of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications and has [...]

Manufacturers' orders gained 0.1% (4.2% y/y) during January, the same as in December which was unrevised. ......... The factory sector figures are available in Haver's USECON database. Factory Sector (% chg) - NAICS Classification Feb [...]

The composite PMI readings largely lost ground in March, however, not by much in most cases. Italy Spain and China are exceptions where the composite PMIs gained traction. In four of eight of the countries/regions whose results are [...]