Economy in Brief

Consumer prices fell 0.3% last month versus an expected 0.2% decline. The figure pulled the y/y increase to 1.7%, down from its peak of 3.9% last September. Prices less food and energy increased a steady and expected 0.2%, for the [...]

EMU IP fell by 1.7% in April after rising by 1.1% in March. Over three months all the major IP categories show negative growth rates. Of the eight EU/EMU nations in the table six show decline in IP over three-months. Over six months [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association index of total mortgage applications surged 18.0% (62.4% y/y) last week to the highest level since early-2009. Applications to refinance jumped 19.2% (85.0% y/y) while home purchase applications [...]

The U.S. Commerce Department reported that business inventories rose 0.4% during April. The modest gain lowered the y/y rise to 6.0%, its least since July of 2010. Business sales again rose 0.2%, but the y/y increase nonetheless fell [...]

The producer price index for finished goods fell 1.0% during May following an unrevised 0.2% decline during April. The latest was the largest one-month decline since July 2009. Expectations were for a 0.6% May drop. Core pricing power [...]

That makes two consecutive months during which consumers lost their inclination to spend. Retail sales slipped 0.2% during May following downward revisions to sales during the prior two months. The April decline of 0.2% was revised [...]

On Tuesday of last week, the Reserve Bank of Australia lowered its cash target rate twenty-five basis points to 3.5% after having reduced the rate fifty basis points just the month before. On the next day, Australia reported that its [...]

Less liquidity, weakness in the global economy and increased competition have taken a toll on international pricing power. U.S. import prices matched expectations and fell 1.0% during May following no-change in April, initially pegged [...]