Economy in Brief

Growth in the U.S. economy was barely positive last quarter. Real GDP improved 0.5% (SAAR, 1.9% y/y), the weakest rise since a decline in Q1'14. The advance was held back by weaker consumer spending growth, a decline in business [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance increased to 257,000 during the week ended April 23 after falling to 248,000 in the prior week, revised from 247,000. Expectations were for 255,000 applications in the Action Economics [...]

The EU Commission Indices for the EU and EMU showed gains in April. The EU index rose to 105.1 this month from 104.6 in March; the EMU index rose by 0.9% reversing its 0.9% drop last month. The EU index sits in the 60.7 percentile of [...]

Growth in the U.S. economy was barely positive last quarter. Real GDP improved 0.5% (SAAR, 1.9% y/y), the weakest rise since a decline in Q1'14. The advance was held back by weaker consumer spending growth, a decline in business [...]

At today's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed funds rate was left unchanged in the range of 0.25%-0.50%. The opening line of today's FOMC statement highlighted the mixed nature of recent economic signals. It was [...]

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that pending sales of single-family homes rose 1.4% in March (1.4% y/y) following a little revised 3.4% February increase. The March sales volume remained 0.6% below the peak last [...]

The Italian consumer confidence index made a large step back in February; since then, it has hovered at a lower plateau. In April, there was slight further erosion to that plateau. While consumer confidence made a slight step lower, [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index declined 4.1% last week (+12.8% y/y) following three consecutive weeks of firm gain. So far in April, applications have risen 6.4% versus March [...]