Economy in Brief

Personal income grew an expected 0.3% in July (3.6% y/y), the same as in the prior two months. June's rise was revised down from 0.5%. Wages and salaries increased 0.2% (3.5% y/y) after a 0.4% June rise. Earnings on financial assets [...]

The GfK measure of the Consumer Climate rose to 5.9 points in August from 5.8 points in July and is forecasted to remain at 5.9 points in September. The series is an indicator of private consumption and is influenced by the buying [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association index of total mortgage applications declined 4.3% last week (+24.4% y/y), the fourth straight week of sharp decline. Applications have fallen 17.2% from the June high. Applications to refinance fell [...]

Pending sales of single-family homes rose 2.4% last month after an unrevised 1.4% June decline, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Sales have risen nearly one-third from the 2010 low. The sales index of 101.7 was [...]

France’s Insee business climate reading for July was revised to 89 from 90 making the ‘repeat’ initial reading of 90 into a gain in August. The index is still weak at the 36.8th percentile of its high/low range and yet it is lower [...]

Last quarter's real GDP growth was revised up to an expected 1.7% annual rate following the advance estimate of 1.5% growth. The revision reflected offsetting changes to foreign trade and inventories. Domestic demand growth of 1.6% [...]

Consumers' confidence about the future has turned sour. In fact, lower expectations for the next six months helped push the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for August down by 7.3% m/m to 60.6 from 65.4 in July, initially [...]

The pump price of regular gasoline rose another four cents last week to $3.78 per gallon, the highest level since early May. Haver Analytics' seasonally-adjusted price for regular rose six cents w/w to $3.62 per gallon. This [...]