Economy in Brief

Earlier strength in commodity prices recently has given way to modest decline. Gold prices fell yesterday to $1,493 per ounce versus the high two weeks ago of $1,540. Crude oil prices were near the recent low at $98.44 per barrel [...]

The Conference Board reported that its Leading Economic Indicators Index unexpectedly declined 0.3% in April after an upwardly revised 0.7% March increase, originally reported at 0.4%. Consensus expectations were for a 0.1% uptick [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's index of regional factory sector activity dropped sharply in May to 3.9 from an unrevised 18.5 in April. It was the lowest since October and was well short of Consensus expectations for 20.0. [...]

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes during April slipped to 5.050M (AR) from a March level of 5.090M, revised from 5.100M. The last was slightly higher than Consensus expectations for 5.20M sales [...]

The chart tells a pretty clear story for Japan. Although the quake and tsunami were late in the quarter they exerted a strong negative impact on Japan’s 2011 Q1 GDP. Because of this timing Q2 is sure to reflect further substantial [...]

Initial claims for jobless insurance fell sharply last week to 409,000 from 438,000 during the week earlier, revised from 434,000. The latest figure was lower than Consensus expectations for 420,000 claims and was the lowest since [...]

At 1.2% at a compounded annual rate Spain's GDP is advancing in 2011-Q1. But the pace is not impressive and the momentum is lacking as well. While Europe frets and stews over Greece the IMF warns that the debt crisis could spread to [...]

The current unemployment rate of 9.0% is down from its October, 2009 peak of 10.1%. The decline occurred due to negligible 0.9% growth in employment during that period. The economic recovery has been slow. Further impetus for the [...]