Economy in Brief: August 2007

Initial unemployment insurance claims rose slightly last week. The 4,000 increase to 307,000 was the first uptick in five weeks. It followed an upwardly revised no change w/w during the prior period. A claims level below 400,000 [...]

Sweden's GDP expanded by a 1.0% quarterly amount in Q2, Statistics Sweden reported this morning, a pickup from 0.7% in Q1. Year-on-year growth was 3.5%, compared to 3.0% in Q1. The gain during 2006 was 4.2%. Two demand sectors [...]

Today, August 1st, as we write at mid-afternoon, the stock market is hovering near yesterday's close, following its up-and-down lurches of recent days, as investors have been factoring more risk into their portfolios. In this note, we [...]

The total number of mortgage applications ticked down 0.3% last week following the 3.6% decline the week prior, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Purchase applications dropped another 1.8% after the prior week’s 5.0% [...]

Challenger, Grey & Christmas reported that job cut announcements in July fell to the lowest level in a year, and that was the lowest level since 2000. The 23.1% m/m decline to 42,897 announcements followed a 21.6% decline during June. [...]

The ADP Nat'l Employment Report, reported by the payroll processor, indicated that private nonfarm payrolls rose just 48,000 last month. The increase was the smallest since 2003. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment figure [...]

The Institute of Supply Management (ISM) reported that the Composite Index of activity in the manufacturing sector fell sharply to 53.8 from 56.0 during June. Consensus expectations for a lesser dip to 55.5 and the decline reversed [...]