Economy in Brief

Household confidence in France took a sharp step down in May dropping to a level of 79 from a level of 83 in April. The drop this month in the INSEE survey index has fallen to its lowest level since the monetary union was formed. [...]

Home price strength is quite uneven around the country this year, but improvement is apparent everywhere. The seasonally adjusted Case-Shiller 20 City Home Price Index gained 1.1% (10.9% y/y) during March following a little-revised [...]

IFO gauge of German real sector activity shows a pickup in May compared April. This is the first rise following two months of declines. In the table and in the chart we present the IFO data on diffusion readings. This is the same sort [...]

Strength in the transportation sector led new orders for durable goods 3.3% higher (2.4% y/y) during April. This followed a little-revised 5.9% March decline and an upwardly-revised 6.4% February jump. A 1.7% rise in orders for last [...]

In May the purchasing managers indices that assess the manufacturing and services sectors in the European Monetary Union are showing that both sectors continue to decline but that the rate of decline has been reduced for both [...]

New home sales increased 2.3% (29.0% y/y) last month to 454,000 (AR) from a revised 444,000 during March, initially reported as 417,000. The latest level was near the cycle-high as the monthly gain outpaced Consensus expectations for [...]

Improved housing markets are lending strength to home-sellers' pricing power. The U.S. House Price Index from the Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA) rose 1.3% during March, the strongest m/m increase of the recovery. The 7.2% [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 340,000 (-8.4% y/y) during the week ended May 18 from a revised 363,000 during the prior week, initially reported as 360,000. Consensus expectations were for 345,000 claims. The four [...]