Economy in Brief

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index rose 11.8% (-5.9%) following two weeks of extreme volatility. During those weeks, applications first rose by one-quarter then fell by a like amount. [...]

Japan's goods exports and imports fell in September with imports falling faster thereby shrinking the trade deficit. Export trends show nominal exports weak on all horizons of one year and less, and declining on balance over six [...]

Gasoline prices at the pump declined last week to $2.28 per gallon (-27.0% y/y), the lowest level since mid-February. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in pump prices. The seasonally adjusted [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported that its Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Activity at the company level rose to 37.5, the highest level since June. Nevertheless, the reading remained below the year-ago level for the [...]

Housing starts during September increased 6.0% to 1.206 million (AR) from 1.132 million in August, last month reported as 1.126 million. During all of the third quarter, starts inched 0.5% higher versus Q2. The latest figure surpassed [...]

The EMU trade surplus contracted sharply in August, falling by 2.5 billion euros month-to-month. Still, the surplus is smartly higher year-over-year. Both exports and imports are losing momentum (see chart). In August, exports fell by [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo increased 4.9% to 64 (18.5% y/y) from a downwardly revised September level of 61. It was the highest level since October 2005 and beat [...]

The job openings rate declined to 3.6% during August from July's cycle-high of 3.8%. It nevertheless remained up versus 3.4% one year earlier. The job openings rate is the number of job openings on the last business day of the month [...]