Economy in Brief

Sales of existing single-family homes in February slipped 0.4% (-7.1% y/y) to 4.600 million (AR) versus an unrevised 4.620 million in January. Sales were down 14.5% versus the July high and roughly equaled expectations for 4.620 [...]

The index of Leading Economic Indicators, published by the Conference Board, increased 0.5% (4.7% y/y) in February following a 0.1% January uptick, revised from 0.3%. A 0.2% rise was expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank reported that its General Business Conditions Index for March rebounded to 9.0 and made up February's falloff to -6.3. The latest figure surpasses Consensus expectations for 4.0. The seasonally [...]

It is as though central banks have gone through the looking glass. In the days of yore, we had central banks such as the Federal Reserve in the United States headed by Paul Volker and the Bundesbank in Germany headed by just about [...]

The four-week moving average of initial claims for unemployment insurance declined to 327,000, the lowest level since late-November. On a weekly basis, initial claims increased to 320,000 during the week ended March 15 from an [...]

Last quarter's deficit on merchandise trade shrank to $171.8 billion, its least in three years.

Last quarter's deficit on merchandise trade shrank to $171.8 billion, its least in three years.

At today's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed reduced the amount of its asset purchases of agency mortgage-backed and longer-term Treasury securities to $55 billion per month from $65 billion per month. It sighted [...]