Economy in Brief

The Conference Board's consumer confidence index turned back upward to 92.6 in December from November's 91.0, which was revised noticeably from 88.7 initially reported; the December index is 19.5% above December 2013. The latest [...]

National average gasoline prices fell 10 cents more in the week ended December 29 to $2.30 a gallon from $2.40 the prior week; they are down 31.0% year-on-year. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that their total Mortgage Market Volume Index edged up 0.9% last week (3.4% y/y) following a 3.3% decline during the prior week. Applications to purchase a home gained 1.3% (-0.5% y/y) as [...]

Initial unemployment insurance claims during the week ended December 20 fell to 280,000 (-17.4% y/y) after declining to an unrevised 289,000 in the prior week. It was the lowest level of claims in seven weeks. The four-week moving [...]

GDP growth last quarter was revised sharply higher to 5.0%, up from last month's estimate of 3.9% growth. The rise was the strongest since Q3 2003. Strengthened growth in final demand accounted for the revision. The gain exceeded the [...]

Gasoline prices remained on their downward trajectory last week, falling to an average $2.40 (-26.5% y/y), the lowest level since May 2009. Prices have fallen from $3.69 per gallon averaged this past June and from $3.91 in May, 2011. [...]

The U.S. House Price Index from the Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA) increased 0.6% in October (4.5% y/y) following an unrevised no-change during September. The increase left three-month growth at 4.5%, about where it's been [...]

Personal income rose 0.4% in November (4.2% y/y) after October's 0.3%, revised modestly from 0.2%. The November increase was slightly below expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey for a 0.5% gain. Wages & salaries were up [...]