Economy in Brief

Deterioration in economic activity is spreading throughout the country. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas indicated that Texas business conditions eased sharply this month. The overall business activity index deteriorated to its [...]

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index increased 1.2% in May to 95.4 (+16.1% y/y) after falling to 94.3 during April, which was revised from 95.2. The latest figure was marginally better than forecasts of 94.5 in the Action [...]

The U.S. House Price Index from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) increased 0.3% during March (5.2% y/y) following a 0.6% February rise, revised from 0.7%. The three-month gain in prices declined to 5.0%, below the 8.3% rate [...]

On the whole the U.K. retail and wholesaling sectors are doing alright in Q2, but something is missing. The business situation for the U.K. retail sector rose to 20 in Q2 2015 from 11 in Q1. For wholesaling, the business situation [...]

New home sales during April recovered 6.8% to 517,000 units (26.1% y/y) from 484,000 in March, initially reported as 481,000. The latest figure beat expectations for 503,000 sales in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Sales are [...]

New orders for durable goods dipped 0.5% during April following a revised 5.1% March jump, earlier reported as 4.0%. A 2.5% decline (-5.1% y/y) in transportation sector orders led the total lower as it reflected a 6.1% drop in [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City reported that business activity diminished during May. The Composite index of 10th District factory sector activity fell to -13, the lowest level since April 2009. The Fed indicated that [...]

German GDP is now finalized. It is up at a 1.1% annual rate in Q1 2015 and at a 1.0% pace year-over-year. Both growth rates represent slowdowns from the previous quarter. Perhaps the most perplexing thing about the German economy is [...]