Economy in Brief

New building activity turned in a very lopsided performance last month. Housing starts during June fell 9.3% to 893,000 AR (+7.5% y/y) following a 7.3% May decline to 985,000, revised from 1.001 million. The latest figure was well [...]

Euro area exports rose in May by 0.6% as imports lagged slightly, rising by only 0.5%. As a result, the trade balance in the euro area saw a slightly larger surplus in May at ?15.29 billion. Exports are not strong across the board. [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that their total Mortgage Market Volume Index declined 3.6% last week (-34.3% y/y) to the lowest level since late-April. Applications remained two-thirds below the peak in September 2012. Home [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo improved to 53 this month from an unrevised from 49 in June. The latest figure was the highest since January and beat expectations in the [...]

Industrial output in the U.S. increased 0.2% during June following a 0.5% May rise, revised from 0.6%. A 0.3% gain in total production was expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Production in the factory sector rose 0.6% [...]

The overall final demand Producer Price Index recovered 0.4% (1.9% y/y) during June following an unrevised 0.2% May decline. Consensus expectations were for a 0.2% gain in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Prices excluding food & [...]

Total business inventories increased 0.5% in May (5.6% y/y) after an unrevised 0.6% advance during April. The stronger y/y rise contrasted with the 3.0% gain last summer. Inventories in the factory sector rose 0.8% (3.8%). Wholesale [...]

Import prices nudged up 0.1% during June (1.2% y/y) following a 0.3% May rise, last month reported as 0.1%. A 0.3% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. A 1.4% rise (6.4% y/y) in petroleum prices provided [...]