Economy in Brief

Falling to the lowest level on record during April, total U.S. housing starts were off by more than one-half from one year ago. The Commerce Department reported that total housing starts of 458,000 (AR) were down 12.8% from March [...]

While faint signs of recovery have begun to appear in various parts of the world, few have appeared in Eastern Europe and this remains the case with today's reports from Eastern Europe that include industrial production in Russia and [...]

Japan’s consumer confidence index is up for the fourth month running. It is now a monthly reading - that accounts for the history of dots on the chart which represent unconnected quarterly observations ahead of the adoption of monthly [...]

The pressure is diminishing in the U.S. housing market according to the National Association of Home Builders. Their May index of sales rose to 16, its highest level since last September and up from an upwardly revised April level. [...]

The pressure is diminishing in the U.S. housing market according to the National Association of Home Builders. Their May index of sales rose to 16, its highest level since last September and up from an upwardly revised April level. [...]

Improved consumer spirits regarding the outlook raised the University of Michigan's early-May reading of consumer sentiment to the highest level since September of last year. The gain in the index to a level of 67.9 exceeded Consensus [...]

The severity of the downturn in industrial output eased last month, according to the industrial production figures published by the Federal Reserve. Output, which includes mining and utilities, declined an expected and moderate 0.5%, [...]

The EMU region’s sharp drop in GDP has turned out to be worse than expected for the region as well as for most countries. Germany is showing the deepest GDP drop since 1970. The drop that The Netherlands is experiencing is the [...]