Economy in Brief: August 2019

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Index rose 5.3% (46.5% y/y) during the week ending August 2 following five consecutive weeks of decline. Applications to refinance a loan firmed 11.8% and [...]

German orders jumped for joy in June, tempering a period of order weakness and declines. The rise is all on the back of 'foreign orders' that spurted by 5% one month after a 3.9% decline. That fact may temper any enthusiasm by itself. [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate eased to 4.6% during June from 4.7% in May, revised from 4.6%. It remained below the 4.8% record logged early this year. The job openings rate is the job [...]

The pump price for a gallon of regular gasoline in the U.S. declined to $2.69 (-5.8% y/y) last week, the lowest price in six weeks. Haver Analytics calculates a series which is adjusted for the seasonal variation in gasoline pump [...]

The Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Activity from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) declined to 53.7 during July from 55.1 in June. It was the lowest level since August 2016. The Action Economics Forecast Survey [...]

Manufacturers' rrders declined a greater-than-expected 0.7% (-1.2% year-on-year) in May......... All these factory sector figures and West Texas intermediate oil prices are available in Haver's USECON database. Factory Sector (% chg) [...]

Job growth eased during July. Nonfarm payrolls increased 164,000 (1.5% y/y) last month following a 193,000 June rise, revised from 224,000. May's increase also was revised lower to 62,000 from 72,000. So far this year, payrolls have [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services decreased ever so slightly in June to $55.2 billion from May's $55.3 billion; that month's result was revised marginally from $55.5 billion. The consensus expectation from the Action [...]