Economy in Brief

Throughout the United States, the unemployment rate has fallen to some degree from its recession high. In some states, such as New York or Louisiana, improvement has been minimal. In others, as in South Carolina or Florida, the [...]

The rebellion against austerity measures in the Euro Area has spread from the troubled countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy to the Netherlands. The Netherlands, a close ally of Germany and has been a staunch supporter of [...]

The sector array of up-minus-down diffusion readings shows only one negative sector for Germany in April. And this is with a new crisis swirling around the e-Zone. The far right column arrays the readings in the table Vs their [...]

The sector array of up-minus-down diffusion readings shows only one negative sector for Germany in April. And this is with a new crisis swirling around the Euro Area. The far right column arrays the readings in the table Vs their [...]

As different as we think that Germany and Italy are their industrial orders have been behaving remarkably similarly. The correlation between German and Italian orders over the past nine years is 0.91 on Y/Y percentage changes (or if [...]

Sales of existing homes fell 2.6% last month to a 4.480 annual rate (+5.2% y/y) from a revised 4.600M during February, last month reported as 4.590M. Despite the decline, sales remained near the highest since May 2010. Sales of [...]

The Leading Economic Indicator index from the Conference Board rose 0.3% last month after an unrevised 0.7% gain during February. A 0.2% increase had been expected. Last month a robust 70% of the series' components rose. That compares [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's General Business Conditions Index slipped last month to 8.5 from 12.5 in March. Nevertheless, positive numbers for the last seven months indicate expansion in activity. The latest reading was [...]