Economy in Brief

Firmness in oil prices continues to dominate this measure of overall U.S. import prices. During November, import prices jumped another 1.3% after an upwardly revised 1.0% October increase, initially reported as 0.9%. The increase [...]

Credit market borrowing grew $1,062 billion, seasonally adjusted annual rate, in Q3, almost twice as strong as Q2's $549 billion and the first push above $1 trillion since the market implosion in late 2008. These data are from the [...]

More angst in Euroland- Just in case there wasn’t enough to worry about in the e-Zone, Germany is now building a mild head of steam for inflation. The Yr/Yr rate is 1.4% while the three-month rate is 1.9%. The e-Zone as whole has an [...]

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 [...]