Economy in Brief

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell again last week as Hurricane Sandy had less of an increasing effect on filings. Claims fell during the week ended November 24 to an expected 393,000 from 416,000 in the prior period, [...]

The economy grew faster than initially reported during Q3'12. Real GDP increased at a revised 2.7% (2.5% y/y) annual rate, up from a 2.0% advance estimate and up from 1.3% during Q2. Consensus expectations were for a 2.8% rise. A [...]

Global monetary trends are all going their own ways not leading to the notion that there is any policy convergence underway. Neither can we really say that monetary policies at the country level are being tailored for their respective [...]

New home buyers were hesitant to commit last month. New home sales in October slipped 0.3% to 368,000 (SAAR) from 369,000 during September, revised from 389,000. The figure fell short of Consensus expectations for 388,000 sales. Home [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association index of total mortgage applications slipped 0.9% last week (+45.5% y/y). The decline was led by a 1.5% drop (+61.4% y/y) in applications to refinance an existing loan. Home purchase applications [...]

The U.S. House Price Index from the Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA) rose 0.2% during September following a 0.5% August rise. The 4.4% y/y increase was its strongest since 2006, and followed four successive years of price [...]

Russian corporate profits increased by 84.5 billion rubles from August to 843.4 billion rubles in September and were up 629.1 billion rubles from September, 2011. With the ruble roughly equivalent to 31 U. S. dollars, the comparable [...]

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for November rose slightly to 73.7 from 73.1 in October, revised from 72.2. Consensus expectations had been 73.2 for this month. The latest figure was the highest since February 2008. [...]