Economy in Brief

Released yesterday, chain store sales rose 0.3% last week for the fifth consecutive weekly gain. The increase pulled sales to a record high and up 3.7% in July versus June. During the last ten years there has been a 66% correlation [...]

Overall mortgage applications fell 5.0% last week. The decline left applications for the month down 5.2% versus June. Applications to refinance fell 5.5% and were down 7.1% for the month. Applications to purchase a home were off 3.8% [...]

The Confederation of British industry (CBI) survey for industrial trades is showing a clear weakening profile for orders, its cycle-leading component. These trends essentially confirm what the early, or 'flash,' UK GDP reading told [...]

New orders for durable goods fell 2.1% last month following an unrevised 1.9% May rise. A 0.4% increase had been the Consensus expectation. Transportation sector orders led the fall and slumped 8.5% (+9.5% y/y). Bookings for aircraft [...]

The German GfK Consumer Climate Study for July, 2011 revealed substantial declines in both income and economic expectations. The balance of opinion regarding income expectations declined 10 percentage points to 34.6% in July from [...]

Total new home sales during June fell 1.0% m/m to 312,000 (AR) a downwardly revised 315,000 in May. Since last year's government program to boost purchases, sales have moved roughly sideways. The latest figure fell short of [...]

The Conference Board reported that its July Index of Consumer Confidence rose 3.3% to 59.5. The gain recovered roughly half of the June decline which was deeper than reported initially. The latest figure beat Consensus expectations [...]

The pump price for regular gasoline rose two cents last week to $3.70 per gallon, its highest in a month. Nevertheless, prices remained down twenty six cents since the May peak. Pump prices usually rise this time of year with [...]