Economy in Brief

As expected, the Federal Open Market Committee today left the Federal funds rate in a "range from 0 to 1/4 percent". The Fed funds rate has remained unchanged since late-2008 at its lowest level ever. The discount rate also was left [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association index of total mortgage applications jumped 6.2% last week (37.5% y/y) after a 4.5% rise during the prior week. The rise was paced by an 8.0% surge (46.7% y/y) in applications to refinance an existing [...]

The pump price for a gallon of regular gasoline declined four cents last week (+1.9% y/y) to $3.35 per gallon. Since their September peak, prices have fallen fifty three cents per gallon. The norm for this time of year of less driving [...]

Declines in petroleum prices lowered overall U.S. import costs by 0.9% last month and by 1.6% y/y. That followed a 0.3% October rise, initially reported as 1.5%. The Action Economics survey looked for a 0.5% fall. Petroleum prices led [...]

The 278 German financial experts participating in the latest ZEW survey, which took place from November 26th to December 10th, were more optimistic than they were last month. While they appraised the current situation only a bit more [...]

Consumer spending is under pressure according to the latest report from the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs. Chain store sales fell 0.7% last week and added to the 3.1% drop during the prior period. The [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business indicated that its November Index of Small Business Optimism collapsed to 87.5 from 93.1 in October. The figure was its lowest since March 2010. A net negative 35% of firms expected the [...]

Labor market improvement continues according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). The October job openings rate rose to 2.7% from an unrevised 2.6%. That equaled the highest rate for the [...]