Economy in Brief

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index improved 0.2% last week (17.4% y/y) to a three-month high following a 3.6% rise during the week earlier. Home purchase applications powered the rise [...]

The factory sector is moving onto a firmer footing. New orders for durable goods increased 2.0% during July (-19.6% y/y) following a 4.1% June gain, revised up from 3.4%. The increase compared to expectations for a 0.5% decline in the [...]

The CBI survey of UK retail sales advanced in August even though sales had been expected to weaken. And sales expected for the month ahead, September, have surged and stand above their 12-month average. U.K. sales in August posted a [...]

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index recovered 11.5% this month (8.7% y/y) to 101.5 from a little-revised 91.0 in July. The reading was the highest since January and beat expectations for 93.0 in the Action Economics [...]

New home sales during July increased 5.4% to 507,000 (SAAR) following a 7.7% June decline to a little-revised 481,000. The rebound left sales in the middle of the range maintained since late-last year. Sales of 510,000 were expected [...]

The U.S. House Price Index from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) increased 0.2% during June (5.6% y/y) following a 0.5% May rise, revised up from 0.4%. The three-month rate of increase continued to decelerate to 4.5%, [...]

The German Ifo index rose in July by one point. Two of its four sectors also rose and two withered. Rising were manufacturing by 0.4 points and wholesaling by an eye-popping 6.6 points. Wholesaling includes the important German export [...]

WTI crude oil costs remained under pressure last week and declined to an average $41.38 per barrel (-56.4% y/y), down from $107.23 in May 2014. Prices fell further yesterday to $38.24 per barrel. These prices compare to a June 2014 [...]