Economy in Brief

Signs that the worst of the downtrend in the U.S. economy may have passed helped stabilize the earlier weakness in the oil market. The pump price for regular gasoline increased last week to an average $2.50 per gallon, though that [...]

The declines in home prices are moderating. That's the message from May's 0.2% seasonally adjusted decline in the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Composite Index of twenty metro-markets. The moderation eased the y/y drop to 17.1% but [...]

The declines in home prices are moderating. That's the message from May's 0.2% seasonally adjusted decline in the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Composite Index of twenty metro-markets. The moderation eased the y/y drop to 17.1% but [...]

BANKS, MONEY, CREDIT- A number of reports are in the news today about banking sector issues in lending. With the EMU money and credit measures just out it’s an appropriate time to survey the background for lending. The German Zew [...]

Home buyers know a good deal when they see it, and looks like that's what buoyed sales of new homes last month. June sales of new single-family homes increased 11.0% from May to 384,000 after two months of modest increase. Though the [...]

Home buyers know a good deal when they see it, and looks like that's what buoyed sales of new homes last month. June sales of new single-family homes increased 11.0% from May to 384,000 after two months of modest increase. Though the [...]

UK forecasters were looking for Q2 GDP to be down 0.3% from Q1, so they were surprised today at the -0.8% preliminary estimate published by ONS. Press reports emphasize the magnitude of the overall decline, 5.6% year-on-year, and 5.7% [...]

Worries about the prospects for the economy persisted late this month, but they eased somewhat from earlier. The University of Michigan's full-month reading of July consumer sentiment came in at 66.0 versus the mid-month reading of [...]