Economy in Brief

The U.S. foreign trade deficit during January deepened to $44.4 from $38.1B in December, revised from $38.5B. A $43.0B deficit had been expected. The deterioration was due to a 1.8% increase (-0.9% y/y) in imports set against a 1.2% [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 340,000 (-9.1% y/y) during the week ended March 2 versus 347,000 a week earlier (revised from 344,000). Consensus expectations were for 355,000 claims. The four week moving average of [...]

Orders to all manufacturers fell 2.0% (+0.3% y/y) following a 1.3% December rise, revised from 1.8%. The decline roughly matched expectations. A 4.9% shortfall (-0.8% y/y) in January durable goods orders, little-revised from the [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association index of total mortgage applications rebounded 14.8% (14.5% y/y) last week to the highest level since the third week of January. Home purchase applications were strong and posted a 15.0% advance (17.3% [...]

Declining profiles for GDP growth rates are all the rage in EMU and elsewhere. Of the fourteen countries listed in the table (both EMU and non-EMU) Yr/Yr growth rates are lower in Q4 than in Q3 for all but three of them; two of those, [...]

Nonfarm private sector payrolls increased 198,000 during February according to the ADP/Moody's National Employment Report. The gain followed a 215,000 January increase, initially reported as 192,000. Figures for all of last year were [...]

The latest report from CoreLogic indicated that home prices gained 0.7% during January after a 0.2% December rise. These gains lifted the y/y increase to 9.7%, the strongest rise since early-2006. When seasonally adjusted by Haver [...]

The table and the chart report some of the same data and reveal the same trends but in different ways. EMU is a bifurcated conundrum. Germany's service sector is surging higher this time all by itself like a biker distancing himself [...]