Economy in Brief

A lower value of the dollar improves the competiveness of U.S. exports. That undoubtedly was behind at least some of the decline in October's trade deficit to $32.9B following a September deficit of $35.7, which was revised lower from [...]

Machinery orders are a volatile measure almost by design. Because of the lumpy nature and large scope of some projects it is hard to get a reliable reading on this series. Looking at core orders is one way to stabilize the signal. [...]

The Labor Department indicated that recent job market improvement stalled last week as suggested by a moderate rise in initial claims for unemployment insurance. The rise to 474,000 from an unrevised 457,000 retraced much of the prior [...]

The Labor Department indicated that recent job market improvement stalled last week as suggested by a moderate rise in initial claims for unemployment insurance. The rise to 474,000 from an unrevised 457,000 retraced much of the prior [...]

The labor market remains soft. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that job availability during October gave back half of the September increase with a 3.1% decline. Openings [...]

Despite faster export than import growth in October, the UK trade deficit widened in October as the larger sterling size of imports translated a smaller percentage gain in imports into a larger gain in sterling terms than for exports. [...]

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 [...]