Economy in Brief

French industrial production rose by 0.5% in October. This marks three straight months of IP increases in France and gains in nine of the last 12 months. With the fourth quarter having just begun, IP is advancing at a 7% annual rate [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 282,000 (-1.2% y/y) in the week ending December 5 from an unrevised 269,000 the previous week. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 265,000 filings. The four-week moving [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 282,000 (-1.2% y/y) in the week ending December 5 from an unrevised 269,000 the previous week. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 265,000 filings. The four-week moving [...]

Inventories at the wholesale level dipped 0.1% during October following a 0.2% September rise, revised from 0.5%. The decline reflected a 1.1% drop (-9.5% y/y) in metals & minerals (excl. petroleum) and a 0.5% decline (+12.9% y/y) in [...]

German export and import flows continued to compress in October. Imports in October plunged by 3.4% as exports fell by 1.2%. Exports and imports each are falling over three months and six months; sequential growth rates in the table [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index gained 1.2% last week (12.5% y/y). Purchase applications were unchanged w/w (28.6% y/y) following a recent surge. Refinancing applications increased [...]

WTI crude oil costs declined to $40.40 (-39.9% y/y) last week, and yesterday dropped to a seven-year low of $37.65 per barrel. Brent crude oil prices fell w/w to $42.41 per barrel last week and were $40.65 yesterday. WTI prices [...]

The job openings rate retreated to 3.6% during October from 3.7% in September. The latest figure compared to 3.2% one year earlier but was down from the expansion high of 3.8% reached during July. The private sector job openings rate [...]