Economy in Brief

EMU orders are up by just 0.1% in January after rising by 2.7% in December and 2.1% in November. Despite the weak January result the three-month growth rate is up at an accelerated rate of growth compared to six months and is slightly [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that overall mortgage applications rose 2.7% last week. So far this month applications have risen 14.3% from the February average. Applications to refinance rose 2.7% but were off roughly one- [...]

The overall U.S. employment picture has improved as mass layoffs continue to decline. The Labor Department indicated that layoffs last month of 50 or more persons from a single firm fell 13.4% from February, 2010. Though the rate of [...]

The UK HICP and RPIX indices rose sharply in February but slowed their pace from January, when the HICP rose by 0.9% and the RPIX rose by a sharp 1.1%. The measure of core inflation lags. But the core rate has been accelerating as the [...]

Sales at chain stores have been roughly unchanged during the last two weeks following the 2.3% jump during the first week of March. Sales for the month so far sales are 2.9% above the February average. During the last ten years there [...]

The pump price for regular gasoline slipped one penny last week to $3.56 per gallon. Nevertheless prices remained near the highest since October, 2008 and more-than-double the December, 2008 low of $1.61. Typically, pump prices [...]

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes fell during February to 4.880M (AR), from a revised January reading of 5.400M, initially reported at 5.560M. The last was well short of Consensus expectations [...]

The Chicago Fed reported that its National Activity Index (CFNAI) remained negative last month at -0.04 versus an upwardly revised -0.01 in January, initially reported at -0.16. The index was down sharply since its March '10 peak, [...]