Economy in Brief

Total business inventories increased 0.7% in October (3.6% y/y) following a 0.6% September gain. These inventories accompanied a 0.5% rise in business sales (3.9% y/y) after September's 0.3% increase. As a result, the inventory-to- [...]

While EMU industrial production is off in October, it still has eked out a small gain over 12-months. Its gains continue to lag behind those of industrial output in the US, but both the US and EMU IP trajectories appear to be headed [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance bounced up to 368,000 last week (4.0% y/y) following 300,000 during the week ended November 30, revised from 298,000. The rise outpaced consensus expectations for 320,000 claims and the four [...]

Retail sales gained strength during November as new cars were bought and as consumers dined out more. Retail spending firmed 0.7% (4.7% y/y) following a 0.6% October advance, revised up from 0.4%. A 0.6% rise had been expected in the [...]

German inflation remains subdued despite a headline gain of 0.4% in November. Year-over-year the German HICP is up by 1.6% and its growth rate is only a touch greater over three-months and six-months. The diffusion calculation on the [...]

The Federal Government ran a $135.2 billion budget deficit during November of FY 2014, down from the $172.1 billion deficit during November of last year. The latest figure compares to the Action Economics Forecast Survey expectation [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that their total mortgage market index edged 1.0% higher last week (-57.5% y/y) but remained at nearly the lowest level since late-2008. Applications to refinance existing loans gained 2.1% [...]

Sales at chain stores remain weak. The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs reported that chain store sales fell 1.6% (+1.5% y/y) last week following a 2.8% drop during Thanksgiving week. The decline follows a [...]