Economy in Brief

Consumer credit outstanding increased $13.2 during October (6.7% y/y) following a revised $15.4 billion September rise, initially reported as $15.9 billion. It was the slowest rate of gain since December. Expectations were for a $16.5 [...]

New orders to all manufacturers fell 0.7% (+2.1% y/y) during October following a 0.5% decline. No change in orders was expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Orders for nondurable goods (which equal shipments) declined 1.5% [...]

The U.S. foreign trade deficit in goods and services narrowed slightly to $43.4 billion in October from a modestly revised $43.6 billion in September. Expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey were for $41.6 billion. [...]

German new industrial orders in October surged by 2.5%, rising faster than had been expected. The rise follows a 1.1% increase in September. This comes after a period of severe volatility. Despite the rise in orders the Bundesbank has [...]

Nonfarm payrolls surged 321,000 during November (2.0% y/y) following upwardly revised increases of 243,000 and 271,000 during the prior two months. The gain outpaced expectations for a 225,000 rise in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that job cut announcements declined to 35,940 (-20.7% y/y) during November. Layoffs fell m/m in the aerospace/defense, apparel, commodities, computer, electronics, [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ended November 29 dropped to 297,000 after increasing to 314,000 in the prior week, revised from 313,000. The four-week moving average of initial claims increased to 299,000. [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that their total Mortgage Market Volume Index declined 7.3% last week (-11.5% y/y) to the lowest level since early last month. Applications to refinance a loan declined 13.4% (-16.3% y/y) [...]