Economy in Brief

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell back last week to 421,000 from 438,000 during the prior period (revised from 436,000). The trend level continued downward as the four-week moving average fell to 427,500, yet another new [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that a 0.9% w/w downtick in mortgage applications after a $16.5B plunge lowered them to the lowest since June. Last week's total decline reflected a 1.4% w/w drop in applications to refinance [...]

The consumer has started borrowing again but credit cards remain stashed away. The Federal Reserve indicated that consumer credit outstanding rose $3.3B during October after a downwardly revised $1.3B September increase. The gains [...]

German IP picks up after drop - The pick-up in German IP is good news. Unfortunately it is still IP rising on the back of capital goods output. The capital goods sector is the backbone of the German export machine. Capital goods [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that the October job openings rate improved to 2.5% from an upwardly revised 2.3% during September. These levels remained improved versus the [...]

The German economy continues to show strength in the midst of the financial uncertainties of the Euro Area. The volume of manufacturing new orders rose 1.6% in October. Foreign new orders rose only 0.82%, due largely to a 0.28% fall [...]

Spain’s economy is steadily losing ground. Industrial output made a recovery and began to show Yr/Yr increases but it is now backsliding. Real retail sales cut their recession losses and flirted with making Yr/Yr gains when [...]

The pump price for regular gasoline jumped ten cents last week to $2.96 per gallon. Prices have risen roughly fifty cents per gallon since the middle of last year and have surged from the December-2008 low of $1.61. Yesterday the spot [...]