Economy in Brief

The index of total mortgage applications from the Mortgage Banker Association increased 4.5% (21.7% y/y) last week and reversed the prior week's falloff. The rise was led by a 6.3% gain (28.5% y/y) in applications to refinance an [...]

Germany's trade surplus continues to widen as growth in the European Community continues to struggle. In February both German exports and imports fell. German exports declined by 1.5% while imports fell by 3.8%. Trends for both [...]

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the February Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report, the job openings rate rose to 2.8% from a revised 2.7% in January. The latest was the highest since June of last year and [...]

The upcoming summer driving season will potentially be a little easier on motorists' wallets. To gain perspective, Haver Analytics constructs seasonal factors to account for the normal seasonal volatility in gasoline prices. Last [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its March Small Business Optimism Index fell after three months of increase. The decline in the seasonally adjusted index to 89.5 from 90.8 in February left the index well [...]

German industrial output rose by 0.5% in February after dropping by 0.6% in January. Even so, over three-months, IP is up at just a 0.4% annual rate. With two months of data in for the first quarter, IP is still shrinking at a 1.6% [...]

The U.S. foreign trade deficit during February eased to $43.0 from $44.5B in January, barely revised from $44.4B. A $44.6B deficit had been expected. The m/m deficit improvement owed to a 0.8% gain (3.2% y/y) in exports while imports [...]

The labor market grudgingly improved last month. Payroll employment increased 88,000 (1.4% y/y) following upwardly revised gains of 268,000 and 148,000 during the prior two months. Consensus had been looking for a 185,000 increase. [...]