Economy in Brief

The only momentum behind the housing market is its penchant for crawling along at a low level. The National Association of Home Builders reported that their index of housing market activity remained low at 13 which was just above the [...]

Credit market borrowing grew $567 billion, seasonally adjusted annual rate, in Q2, stronger than the $498 billion amount in Q1. That figure, in turn, reflects a sizable revision of the tiny $10.3 billion paydown initially reported. [...]

The PPI facts of life: The PPI was subdued in August rising by just 0.1%. This comes after several months of elevation. The elevation, however, was not shared by the core which instead has bumped up in August after being low and [...]

In a renewed statement of discouragement, consumer sentiment fell again early in September. The University of Michigan reported that its mid-month reading reversed last month's uptick and fell to 66.6 which was the lowest level since [...]

Higher prices for energy products continued to lift overall consumer price inflation. A 0.3% increase in the August CPI (1.2% y/y) repeated the July performance. That news, however, is where the story of any strength in U.S. pricing [...]

It's of little solace that the latest General Activity Index in the Philadelphia Fed's September Business Outlook Survey bounced up. The reading improved this month to -0.7 from -7.7 in August, but that remained only the second [...]

The U.S. current account deficit widened in Q2 to $123.3 billion from a revised $109.2 billion in Q1; this result was very close to consensus expectations for $123.9 billion. The Q2 ratio to GDP is 3.4%, up from 3.0% in Q1. The [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell 3,000 last week to 450,000 from an upwardly revised 453,000 in the week prior (originally 451,000). Claims remained the lowest in nine weeks, just before Census-takers began wrapping up [...]