Economy in Brief

The EU Commission indices for the entire EU advanced to a level of 106.5 in May from 106.3 in April. For the European Monetary Union, the index advanced by 0.7% in May, rebounding from a 0.5% decline in April. Among the 17 EMU members [...]

The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs reported that chain store sales declined 1.2% (+2.1% y/y) last week, down for the fourth straight week. Sales have fallen 1.2% versus April. During the last ten years [...]

The price for a gallon of regular gasoline held at $3.67 last week (0.8% y/y), steady at that level for all of this month. The price remained down from the $3.78 per gallon peak reached in February of last year. To account for [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that their total Mortgage Market Volume Index declined 1.2% last week (-49.8% y/y) and retraced the earlier week's rise. Applications remained two-thirds below the peak in September 2012. [...]

The U.S. House Price Index from the Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA) increased 0.7% during March, the strongest gain in three months. The year-to-year growth rate eased, however, to 6.4% from an 8.5% peak in July of last [...]

The Conference Board reported that their reading of consumer confidence improved to 83.0 this month from 81.7 in April, revised from 82.3. The latest figure remained nearly the highest since January 2008 and matched expectations in [...]

Consumer confidence in Italy rose to 106.3 in May from 105.5 in April. This is the strongest reading since 2010. The three-month rise in the index is 8.4 points, which is the fifth highest three-month gain since November 1989. The [...]

Manufacturing sector activity continues to register surprising improvement. New orders for durable goods increased 0.8% during April (7.1% y/y) following a 3.6% March rise, initially reported as 2.6%. The increase beat expectations [...]