Economy in Brief: 2017

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) index of U.S. house prices rose 6.3% y/y during September. This compared to a peak 7.1% y/y gain in April. During the last three months, prices improved at a 6.1% annual rate. In September [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas indicated in its Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey that the November General Business Activity Index fell to 19.4, the lowest point in three months. Despite the decline, the figure still suggested [...]

The quarterly U.K. service sector survey by the CBI weakened in Q4. The assessment is for weakness and the prognosis is for weakness. There is really only one response that is truly strong and it is inconsistent with the other [...]

Sales of new single-family homes increased 6.2% to 685,000 (SAAR) during October following a 14.2% gain to 645,000 in September, revised from 667,000. Sales were at the highest level since October 2007. Expectations in the Action [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Volume Index rose 0.1% last week, down 12.6% y/y. Moving in the opposite direction, however, were purchase applications, which jumped 5.3% (2.7% y/y) [...]

The German trade surplus in September continued to push to a higher level. The 21.83 billion euros surplus rose from 21.32 billion euros in August. It is the highest surplus since April 2016. Since January 1999, the surplus ranks as [...]

The labor market remains on a firm footing. Initial unemployment insurance applications fell to 239,000 (-4.7% y/y) during the week ended November 18, and reversed the prior week's increase. Expectations had been for 240,000 claims in [...]

Activity in the factory sector weakened last month. New orders for durable goods declined 1.2% during October (+1.0% y/y) following an unrevised 2.2% September increase. A 0.5% increase in orders had been expected in the Action [...]