Economy in Brief

Total durable goods orders during February rebounded 5.7% (3.8% y/y) following a 3.8% January decline, revised from -5.2%. A 3.7% rise had been expected. Last month's recovery was led by a 21.7% rebound (9.4% y/y) in transportation [...]

Consumer Confidence in Italy sees handwriting on the wall - Italy's consumer confidence measure in March as measured by ISAE, the Italian statistical agency, shows a drop in the reading to 85.2 from 86.0 in February. January had [...]

The Chicago Federal Reserve reported that its February National Activity Index (CFNAI) rose to 0.44 from a downwardly revised -0.49 in January. Smoothing out the m/m volatility, the three-month moving average deteriorated to 0.09, its [...]

Germany's widely respected IFO business climate index turned slightly lower unexpectedly in March. Rising confidence abated, business expectations took a small setback and the climate cooled. The table chronicles a sector diffusion [...]

The employment market continues to firm. The Labor Department reported that layoffs of 50 or more persons from a single firm fell to 960 during February, near the cycle's low. That comes on the heels of a 7.8% decline to 17,080 during [...]

The U.S. House Price Index from the Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA) rose another 0.6% during January following three consecutive months of similar increase. The 6.5% y/y rise was its strongest since the middle of 2006; it [...]

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes improved 0.8% (10.2% y/y) during February to a 4.98M annual rate. The increase followed an upwardly revised 0.8% January rise. The latest fell short of [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank reported that its General Business Conditions Index rebounded during March to 2.0. That followed an unrevised sharp February decline to -12.5. Haver Analytics constructs a seasonally adjusted [...]