Economy in Brief

Initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped to 297,000 (-16.3% y/y) in the week ended May 10 from 321,000 in the week ended May 3, revised from 319,000. Expectations had been for 320,000 claims in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

The euro area put in a disappointing performance in the first quarter of 2014 as GDP is only rising at a 0.8% annual rate. Among the early reporters, GDP declined in Portugal, dropped sharply in the Netherlands, fell in Italy and fell [...]

Industrial production momentum in the euro area has been short-circuited in March. Industrial production excluding construction fell by 0.3%. Combined with a decline in January, the three-month growth rate logs a -0.8% annual rate. [...]

Lower mortgage rates are prompting an increase in home-financing activity. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that their total Mortgage Market Volume Index increased 3.6% last week (-58.5% y/y) but remained in the sideways [...]

Pricing power improved last month throughout much of the economy. The overall final demand PPI increased 0.6% (2.1% y/y) during April following an unrevised 0.5% March gain. It was the largest increase since September 2012 and easily [...]

Retail and food service sales ticked 0.1% higher last month following a 1.5% March increase, revised from 1.1%. A 0.4% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Sales of motor vehicles & parts increased 0.6% [...]

Total business inventories increased 0.4% in March (4.7% y/y) after a 0.5% February rise. The latest gain was accompanied by a 1.0% jump (4.3% y/y) in business sales after February's like rise. As a result, the inventory-to-sales [...]

The ZEW survey of current conditions and expectations for May is producing striking results. While the current index continues to show improvement rising to 62.1 in May from 59.5 in April and 51.3 in March, expectations have been cut [...]