Economy in Brief

Sales of existing homes recovered slightly last month following the expiration of the Federal home-buyer tax credit. August sales of existing homes increased 7.6% to 4.13M following a 27.0% July decline that was revised slightly [...]

That sinking feeling Atlantans may have had...Europe is not a lost continent but it may be losing its growth. Indeed, Europe's flash-PMIs were weak enough to sink the euro upon their release and end its period of rising strongly Vs [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose 12,000 last week to 465,000 from an upwardly revised 453,000 in the week prior (originally 450,000). The 4-week moving average fell slightly to 463,250. The latest weekly decline [...]

Growth wanes - Facade of strong orders begins to melt as July orders unwind June's gain. MFG goods sales fell in July to boot. Drops in sales and in orders are widespread in July. The drop in orders was more than markets has expected [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that mortgage applications fell 1.4% last week following an 8.9% decline during the prior week. Nevertheless, overall applications remain up 18.3% from September '09. Last week's total decline [...]

The pump price for regular gasoline has been roughly stable for the last four months near last week's level of $2.72 per gallon. Prices remained down from $2.91 in early-May. Nevertheless, pulled higher with recovery from the last [...]

At yesterday's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Funds rate was held at 0.125% where it has been since December 2008. The discount rate also was held constant at 0.75%. In the Fed's statement released after the [...]

Canada's CPI rose by 0.1% in August as the core rose by 0.1% as well. Canada's inflation trends show moderate-to-low variability but not much sense of acceleration. Inflation seems to be subdued with only a slight hint of acceleration [...]