Economy in Brief

An improved job market and lower interest rates are helping home buyers service mortgage debt. The share of home mortgages that are notably delinquent fell to 5.88% during Q2'13. That's down from 7.31% one year earlier and below the [...]

The OECD indices of Leading Economic Indicators show, for the most part, continuing growth in the OECD area and in its largest economies. Even so, there are irregularities. The OECD reports on its indices as follows: - The CLIs for [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose slightly to 333,000 (-9.5% y/y) during the week ended August 3 from 328,000 in the prior week, initially reported as 326,000. The latest figures remained the lowest since early-November [...]

Improved labor markets are supporting confidence; thus the consumer is ramping up credit usage. During June, consumer credit outstanding grew $13.8B following a $17.5B May increase, revised from $19.6B. The y/y increase was stable at [...]

Germany: an export-led growth spurt in action- As go capital goods, so goes Germany. German industrial orders have been increasing and showing that the greater part of their increase is coming from the foreign sector. Germany has long [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that total applications for a home mortgage were fairly stable last week. The total market index ticked up 0.2% (-46.75 y/y) but that was set against a decline since early-May of 47.6%. Home [...]

The price for a gallon of regular gasoline slipped 2 cents to $3.63 last week (-0.4% y/y). Nevertheless, it remained near the highest price since early-April. Prices remained down from the $3.78 per gallon peak reached late in [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its June Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that the job openings rate remained steady m/m at 2.8% in June. May was revised up from 2.7%. The trend, however, has been sharply [...]