Economy in Brief: March 2020

• Initial jobless claims decreased to 211,000 in the week ending March 7th. • Four-week moving average edged up to 214,000. Initial jobless claims for unemployment insurance declined 4,000 to 211,000 (-5.8% year-on-year) during the [...]

The EMU IP index rose by a sharp 2.3% in January; its first increase since September. Output gains registered across all major sectors… And they are not apropos of a trend. This is yet another report that has showed a pick-up in [...]

The Producer Price Index for final demand declined 0.6% (+1.3% y/y) during February following a 0.5% January rise. It was the largest m/m weakening since January 2015. A 0.1% decline had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the federal government ran a $235.34 billion budget deficit during February compared to a $233.98 billion deficit twelve months earlier. A $239.3 billion deficit had been expected in the [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its Mortgage Loan Application Index rose 55.4% (205.2% y/y) during the week ending March 6 after a 15.1% gain in the prior week. The jump occurred as refinancings rose 78.6% (479.2% y/y). [...]

Despite having two monthly gains in a row the UK sequential growth time series show that 12-month, 6-month and 3-month growth rates all are in a slowing mode (see chart for this). The simple sequential growth rates comparing the [...]

The Consumer Price Index edged 0.1% (2.3% y/y) higher during February for the second consecutive month. These gains followed two months of 0.2% increase. Expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey were for no change in the [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) indicated that its Small Business Optimism Index improved 0.2% (2.8% y/y) to 104.5 during February and added to its 1.6% January rise. The reading remained 4.0% below the high [...]