Economy in Brief

Low interest rates continue to support the housing market. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that mortgage applications rose 8.5% last week, the second week of firm gain that continued what has been a 50% rise since the late- [...]

Gasoline prices haven't moved much during the last four weeks. The pump price for regular gasoline of $2.63 per gallon last week was down two cents from the November average but remained in the tight range between $2.47 and $2.69 [...]

Gasoline prices haven't moved much during the last four weeks. The pump price for regular gasoline of $2.63 per gallon last week was down two cents from the November average but remained in the tight range between $2.47 and $2.69 [...]

German Industrial Production declined almost 2% to 95.7 (2005=100) in October, from 97.5 in September. Although expectations had been for a small rise, yesterday's sobering report on new orders should have dampened expectations. Among [...]

After improving this spring, small business' optimism has leveled off. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) reported their small business optimism index during November dipped 0.9% to 88.3 after two months of slight [...]

The Federal Reserve reported yesterday that consumer credit outstanding fell by $3.5B m/m during October. While it was the thirteenth monthly drop since summer 2008, earlier declines were trimmed. And though consumer credit [...]

The Federal Reserve reported yesterday that consumer credit outstanding fell by $3.5B m/m during October. While it was the thirteenth monthly drop since summer 2008, earlier declines were trimmed. And though consumer credit [...]

The November employment report indicated that the number of temporary help jobs grew by 52,400, the fourth consecutive month of increase. Since July temp employment grew by 116,900 (6.7%), a gain which outstripped the 95,500 (0.7%) [...]