Economy in Brief

The Institute of Studies and Economic Analysis's (ISAE) index of Italian consumer confidence fell 4.1% from June to 95.8 (1980=100) in July, the lowest value since May 2004. Consumers' biggest concern appears to be the general [...]

The index of U.S. house prices from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) fell 0.3% during May and prices were down 4.8% from a year earlier.

Chain store sales, as reported by the International Council of Shopping Centers, ticked a modest 0.1% last week. The uptick followed like moves during each of the prior three weeks and the level of sales in July is up modestly from [...]

The retail price for a gallon of regular gasoline dropped five cents last week to $4.06 per gallon, according to the U.S. Department of Energy survey. For all grades of gasoline the average price also fell five cents to $4.12 per [...]

The retail price for a gallon of regular gasoline dropped five cents last week to $4.06 per gallon, according to the U.S. Department of Energy survey. For all grades of gasoline the average price also fell five cents to $4.12 per [...]

Five countries, Portugal, Switzerland, Russia, Estonia and Slovenia, reported June data for producer price indexes today.Among the five countries, inflation at the producer level measured by the year-over-year increase in the producer [...]

The composite index of leading economic indicators, reported by the Conference Board, dipped 0.1% during June after a revised 0.2% decline in May. The decline lowered the leaders by 0.9% so far in 2008. The leaders still may not yet [...]

The Chicago Federal Reserve Bank indicated that its Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) for June was again negative. The reading of -0.60 was, however, the least negative since January. It left the three-month moving average [...]