Economy in Brief

The October ZEW survey of the German financial community showed that the 288 financial analysts and investors who participated in the survey have become less pessimistic. The excess of pessimists regarding expectations for the economy [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo rose this month to 41 from 40 in September. The latest figure was the highest since June 2006. The index of single-family home sales held [...]

The factory sector remained under pressure last month because of slack demand and too many inventories. Industrial production gained a modest 0.4% during September following a 1.4% August decline, last month reported as -1.2%. A 0.3% [...]

The pump price for a gallon of regular gasoline fell three cents last week to $3.82. Haver Analytics constructs seasonal factors to account for usual volatility and the adjusted price rose one penny to $3.86 per gallon, the highest [...]

Consumer prices posted a second consecutive 0.6% rise during September. The gain was roughly in line with expectations for a 0.5% rise. Despite this strength, prices excluding food & energy continued rising just 0.1% (2.0% y/y) for [...]

The Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions for October continued to suggest lower levels of activity. At -6.16 the figure was improved slightly from September but remained near the lowest level of the economic [...]

During August, business inventories rose 0.6% following a 0.8% July rise. Though the y/y trend gain fell, these latest gains were elevated versus the Q2 average of 0.2%. Behind the quicker increase was a 0.9% rise in merchant [...]

The Federal Government Budget Deficit fell to $1,089B for all of FY'12 from $1,298B in FY'11, according to figures released Friday by the U.S. Treasury. In a sign of economic improvement, part of that shrinkage owed to a $75.0B [...]