Economy in Brief: 2012

The new home sales market reached a two year high last month. New home sales in September rose 5.7% to 389,000 (SAAR) from 368,000 during August, revised from 373,000. The gain beat Consensus expectations for 382,000 sales. The latest [...]

The U.S. House Price Index from the Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA) gained 0.6% during August following an unrevised 0.2% July increase. The rise lifted the y/y increase to 4.7%, was its strongest since 2006 and followed [...]

The U.S. House Price Index from the Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA) gained 0.6% during August following an unrevised 0.2% July increase. The rise lifted the y/y advance to 4.7%, its strongest since 2006. That followed four [...]

Fewer payrolls were cut back last month. The Labor Department reported that layoffs of 50 or more persons from a single firm fell to 811, the lowest level since September 2007; down nearly by one-third y/y. However, this decline was [...]

Perhaps it's all seasonal, but there's been pressure on consumer spending. Since their peak in mid-July, chain store sales have fallen 5.0%, leaving the y/y gain at 2.9%. Chain store sales fell 0.7% last week and the October average [...]

The summer driving season is over and the overall economy is weak. That's a prescription for lower gasoline prices. Last week, the pump price for a gallon of regular gasoline dropped thirteen cents (-3.5%) to $3.69 per gallon. That [...]

The disastrous earthquake and tsunami of March, 2011 disrupted Japan's foreign trade in goods for more than a year as the loss of production curtailed exports and increased imports. But so far there has not been a return to [...]

For 2013, the National Association for Business Economics lowered the expectation for real GDP growth to 2.2%, a revision from the 2.7% expected in May. That follows a little revised projection for 2.2% growth for this year. Quarterly [...]