Economy in Brief

Gasoline prices at the pump fell last week to $2.09 per gallon, down 9 cents from the prior week. Prices were down 25.8% y/y, but remained slightly above the January low of $2.04. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the [...]

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index in November unexpectedly fell for a second straight month. The overall index declined 8.8% to 90.4, the lowest level since September of 2014. The consensus expectation was for a roughly [...]

Germany's IFO Index advanced in November, with its all-sector index rising to 10.9 from 9.4 in October. The all-sector index sits in the 81st percentile of the measure's historic queue of data a relatively strong standing. Current [...]

Economic growth was revised higher to 2.1% (AR) during Q3'15 versus the advance reading of a 1.5% increase. The gain followed unrevised 3.9% growth during Q2. A slower rate of inventory decumulation reduced growth last quarter by 0.6 [...]

The Markit private sector PMI flash gauge rose by 0.4 points in November the 25th largest one month gain in the last 70 months. However, even that small gain brought the level up to its highest value since May 2011 bringing the index [...]

The Chicago Federal Reserve reported that its National Activity Index (CFNAI) during October improved to -0.04 from revised readings of -0.29 during the prior two months. The figure indicates that economic growth returned to its trend [...]

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes declined 3.4% (+0.9% y/y) during October to 5.360 million (AR) after an unrevised 4.7% increase to 5.550 million in September. The latest figure disappointed [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's Nonmanufacturing Business Index of current conditions slipped a bit in November to 15.6 from 16.3 in October. This was the fourth consecutive monthly decline and the lowest level since July [...]