Economy in Brief

Labor market improvement is gaining steam. Initial unemployment insurance claims fell to 348,000 last week from 361,000 during the week prior (revised from 358,000). Claims averaged 365,250 (-12.9% y/y) during the last four weeks, the [...]

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo reported that housing market activity continues to improve. The Composite Housing Market Index for February again rose four points to 29, its highest level since April 2007. [...]

Industrial production was unchanged last month (3.3% y/y) following a revised 1.1% December rise, initially reported as 0.4%. The latest figure disappointed Consensus expectations for a 0.7% rise, according to Action Economics. [...]

The reports on GDP are still dribbling in but the EMU growth rate for 2011-Q4 could have been worse. Of course for some EMU members the growth rates were worse. Greece is undergoing a horrendous period of growth and some think before [...]

The February Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions improved to 19.53 from January's unrevised 13.48. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York indicated that the increase was to its highest level since June 2010. [...]

The U.S. Commerce Department reported that business inventories rose 0.4% during December following a 0.3% gain in November. For the year growth moderated slightly to 7.7%. Business sales increased 0.7% in December. As a result, the [...]

German investors and analysts interviewed over the period from January 30 to February 13, 2012 by the ZEW Institute in Mannheim, Germany, became more optimistic. From an excess of pessimists of 21.5% in January there was an excess of [...]

U.S. import prices rose 0.3% last month after an unrevised 0.1% December slip. A 0.2% rise had been expected. Year-to-year, higher oil prices and the lower value of the dollar raised prices for imported products by 7.1% y/y. Petroleum [...]