Economy in Brief

The recovery in housing markets continues to bolster prices. The seasonally adjusted Case-Shiller 20-City Home Price Index rose 0.9% (0.5% y/y) during June. That added to its little revised 1.0% May increase. The gain in prices [...]

The German business climate weakened again in August to 102.3 (2005=100) from 103.2 in July. It was for the fourth successive month of decline, but the decline was more moderate, 0.9%, compared with the 1.9%, 1.5% and 2.7% declines of [...]

Italy’s current account is finally adjusting. No longer is it simply stuck in the ‘red zone.’ Since December 2004 Italy has had only four months in which its current account has not been in deficit. In June Italy’s account was at zero [...]

The U.S. House Price Index from the Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA) rose 0.7% during June following a 0.6% May increase, last month reported as 0.8%. It was the fifth consecutive monthly gain. The 3.6% y/y increase was its [...]

New orders for durable goods jumped another 4.2% last month following an unrevised 1.6% June increase. Expectations had been for a 1.5% July rise. Strength continued to center in the transportation sector where orders jumped 14.1% [...]

The good news is that the PMIs for August did not simply continue to decay. The bad news is that there is really not much of a bounce. And that the service sector did continue to decay but by a small amount. By comparison the MFG [...]

New home sales rose 3.6% in July to 372,000 from 359,000 during the prior month, revised from 350,000. The increase surpassed Consensus expectations for 360,000. Sales in the Northeast recovered most of a June plunge while sales in [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 372,000 during the week ended August 18 from 368,000 during the prior week, revised from 366,000. Consensus expectations were for 365,000 claims. The four-week moving average of claims [...]