Economy in Brief: 2020

Retail gasoline prices declined to $2.00 per gallon (-25.5% y/y) in the week ended March 30 from $2.12 per gallon in the previous week. Prices remained below their May 2019 peak of $2.90 per gallon. Haver Analytics adjusts the [...]

The Conference Board's Index of Consumer Confidence declined 9.5% (-3.4% y/y) during March to a level of 120.0 following a 1.7% February gain, revised from 0.2%. A decline to an index level of 114.8 had been expected in the Action [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported in its Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey that the General Business Activity Index weakened to -70.0 this month from 1.2 in February. The decline mirrored the readings from other regional [...]

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that pending home sales increased 2.4% in February (9.4% y/y) to the highest level since February 2017. Lower mortgage rates helped fuel the increase with the 15-year fixed-rate [...]

With shutdowns, lockdowns, and Schengen-defying border closures at work in different places on different timelines, the one constant in the EMU is the weakness that has spread across the euro area. Activity had peaked near the end of [...]

U.S. Pending Home Sales Improve Ahead of Coronavirus by Tom Moeller March 30, 2020 The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that pending home sales increased 2.4% in February (9.4% y/y) to the highest level since December [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported in its Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey that the General Business Activity Index weakened to -70.0 this month from 1.2 in February. The decline mirrored the readings from other regional [...]

A number of countries are reeling under the sting of the coronavirus and infection of COVID-19 the disease it spawns. But no country is battling harder than Italy whose economy is now starting to show some severe strains. The EU [...]