Economy in Brief

The Mortgage Bankers Association index of total mortgage applications slipped 1.2% last week (+35.5% y/y) led by a 2.0% decline (+41.8% y/y) in applications to refinance an existing loan. Home purchase applications gained 2.4% last [...]

The pump price for a gallon of regular gasoline recovered five cents last week to $3.85, the highest level in three weeks. Haver Analytics constructs seasonal factors to account for regular volatility and the adjusted price rose seven [...]

A diverse group of five countries reported August Industrial Production data over the last couple of days. They were Indonesia, Turkey, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Their Industrial Production data are shown in the [...]

With growth in the e-Zone under pressure and evidence that weakness has spread to the core zone nations German industrial output has contracted in August, falling by 0.5%. Output is down over 12-months by 1.4% but it registers [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business indicated that its September Index of Small Business Optimism slipped to 92.8 from 92.9 in August. The Q3 average of 92.3 was its lowest this year. Recent weakness was led by fewer firms [...]

The OECD's August Composite Leading Indicators, (CLIs) published today and shown in the Haver data base, OECDMEI, are further evidence of the world wide slow down in economic activity. There were declines in the composite leading [...]

Lenders accommodated consumers' borrowing needs during August. Consumer credit surged $18.1B following a revised $2.5B July decline according to Federal Reserve figures released late on Friday. The Action Economics survey consensus [...]

Labor market improvement is continuing. Nonfarm payrolls grew 114,000 during September following revised gains of 142,000 and 181,000 during the prior two months, earlier reported as 96,000 and 141,000, respectively. A 120,000 [...]