Economy in Brief

Housing starts in January declined 16.0% (-2.0% y/y) to 880,000 units (AR) from 1.048 million in December, revised up from 999,000. The latest level fell short of expectations for 950,000 starts in the Action Economics survey. Starts [...]

Heavy snowfall this month depressed the Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo by 10 points versus January to 46. The m/m decline was the largest in the series history and the index [...]

The ZEW German index for February shows a significant climb in the current index as expectations were set back for the second month in a row, this time substantially. The current index rose to 50 this month from a level of 41.2 in [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York indicated that its Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions for February fell to 4.48 from its two year high of 12.51 during January. The latest figure fell short of expectations [...]

The output of U.S. factories fell 0.8% (+1.3% y/y) during January following 0.3% gains during the prior two months, both revised down from 0.5%. The latest decline was the largest since May 2009. Overall industrial production fell a [...]

Acceleration, but very gradual acceleration, is the clear picture from the table and the chart on GDP growth. EMU GDP growth is 0.5% year over year in Q4 2013, up from -0.3% in Q3, -0.6% in Q2 and -1.2% in Q1. That is steady but also [...]

Import prices ticked up a minimal 0.1% during January following a 0.2% December rise, revised from no change. A 0.1% slip had been expected in the Action Economics survey. A 1.2% decline (-4.0% y/y) in petroleum prices last month [...]

Total business inventories increased 0.5% in December (4.0% y/y) after a 0.4% November gain. Though the rate of inventory accumulation slowed late in the quarter, the entire quarter's gain of 1.7% was the swiftest since Q3 2013. This [...]