Economy in Brief

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo fell 2 points to 55 this month after a 1 point decline in September, last month reported as no change. This latest reading disappointed [...]

Mortgage bankers have seen their volume of business fall by roughly one-half during the last year. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that despite the 1.7% w/w increase last week, their total mortgage market index was off 54.7% [...]

The two ZEW indices for Germany, one for current activity and the other for expectations, were mixed in October. The current index edged lower to a still strong 29.7 reading, while the expectation index, the most focused on, rose to [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that its Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions for October fell to 1.52 from an unrevised 6.29 in September. The latest figure disappointed expectations for 6.5, [...]

Euro-area industrial production advanced sharply in August, rising by 1.1% reversing a drop of 1% in July. Still, in the quarter to date EMU IP is rising at a 0.4% annual rate and much faster over the last three months. Over three [...]

Most commodity prices indexes have moved sideways since the recovery from recession. Friday's industrial commodity price index, from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER), was 165.5, unchanged since [...]

The inflation situation in the European Monetary Union tells a lot about the ongoing stresses and strains in the system. The chart on the left shows the inflation performance for a group of countries that have had economic [...]

The budget debate, government furloughs, lower stock prices and higher mortgage rates seem to be weighing on consumer attitudes about the future. Consumer sentiment from the Reuters/University of Michigan survey fell sharply this [...]