Economy in Brief

On a trend basis, Japan's exports are still stronger than its imports; thus, a move to surplus should still lie ahead for Japan. However, in the last few months, the import decline has abated (month-to-month growth) and imports have [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index fell 7.0% last week (+2.2% y/y) to the lowest level since early last month. Applications to refinance a loan led the decline with a 9.1% fall (+0.5% [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo improved to 62 (5.1% y/y) from an unrevised August level of 61. It was the highest level since October 2005 and beat expectations for 61 in [...]

Mario Draghi warned that the EMU could face another period in which its inflation gauge, the HICP, declined. In August the monthly HICP fell by 0.1%, its second drop in three months. Now the year-over-year HICP gain is just 0.1%. The [...]

The Consumer Price Index eased 0.1% during August (+0.2% y/y) and reversed the prior month's increase. It was the first shortfall since a 0.7% decline in January. Prices excluding food & energy notched 0.1% higher (1.8% y/y) for a [...]

Total business inventories edged up 0.1% in July (2.6% y/y) after a 0.7% advance in June, revised slightly from 0.8% reported initially. The resulting 3-month growth was 3.0% (AR), down from 5.0% in June. Total business sales also [...]

Gasoline prices at the pump continued to fall last week and averaged $2.38 per gallon (-30.3% y/y). That was down 6 cents from a week earlier and below $2.84 in mid-June. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal [...]

Overall industrial output decreased 0.4% during August after a 0.8% July gain, last month reported as 0.6%. A 0.2% decline had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Manufacturing sector production fell 0.5% (+1.3% [...]