Economy in Brief: 2020

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 [...]

Italian IP rose by a strong 3.4% month-to-month in January after falling by 2.4% in December. December’s losses were across the board, and similarly, January’s gains are also across the board. Despite the late in-the-quarter drop in [...]

The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil plummeted yesterday. It declined to $31.13 per barrel after falling last week to an average $45.58. The latest was the lowest level since February 2016. The price of Brent crude oil [...]

Arguably Germany's industrial production finds itself in the eye of the storm. There is some January rebound as U.S. China tensions ratcheted down with the year-end Phase-One trade deal. With that, markets began to breathe a sigh of [...]

The Industrial Materials Price Index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) declined 0.9% during the four weeks ended Friday and 6.8% over the last year. The price index fell to the lowest level [...]