Economy in Brief

It was expected that GDP would be an upward revision and not a downward revision. There were some hopes that UK GDP would eliminate the decline in Q4 that was viewed as 'pre-mature.' Instead UK GDP has fallen by more in Q4 than had [...]

Consumers' spirits improved markedly during the last two weeks. The full-month February reading of consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan rose to 77.5 and easily beat expectations for 75.3. The reading also was improved [...]

Real GDP growth during Q4 was reduced to 2.8% (SAAR) from the advance report of 3.2%. The revision was due to weakened growth in domestic final demand. The GDP figure was well below Consensus expectations for a revision to 3.6%. [...]

EU economic sentiment indices continue to make progress but the chart highlights that fact that the rate of change, while still positive is steadily abating. And while some sectors are going quite well others are quite stuck in a low [...]

The Chicago Fed reported that its National Activity Index (CFNAI) fell last month to -0.16 from an upwardly revised 0.18 in December, initially reported at 0.03. The index remained down sharply since its March peak, though it has [...]

Total new home sales in January fell 12.6% to 284,000 and reversed most of the downwardly revised 15.7% December gain. Consensus expectations were for 300,000 sales. Sales have fallen by three-quarters from the all-time record [...]

The downtrend in unemployment appears intact. Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 391,000 last week and reversed most of the prior week's increase to 413,000. The earlier week's figure was revised up slightly from [...]

Volatility is the keyword for recent bookings in most categories of the durable goods factory sector, but the trend remains positive. Stronger orders for aircraft & parts were behind the advance report of a 2.7% jump in January [...]