Economy in Brief: 2019

EMU area IP ticked up by the smallest amount in September, rising by 0.1% after August's 0.4% gain. Still, in the just completed quarter, IP is falling at a 3.5% annual rate. Manufacturing output is up for two months running by 0.4% [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its Mortgage Loan Index strengthened 9.6% (79.5% y/y) in the week ending November 8 after easing 0.1% w/w in the previous week. Purchase applications increased 5.1% w/w (14.8% y/y) and [...]

The Consumer Price Index increased 0.4% (1.8% y/y) during October following stability in September. It was the largest increase since March. Expectations had been for a 0.3% rise in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The CPI [...]

Retail gasoline prices edged higher to $2.62 per gallon last week (-2.6% y/y) from $2.61 in the previous week. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in gasoline pump prices. The seasonally-adjusted [...]

The ZEW survey in November has month-to-month increases in most macroeconomic, interest rate and stock market readings. But it is not just this breadth that is impressive; it is the breadth on top of a strong change in individual [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) reported that its Small Business Optimism Index rose 0.6% (-4.7% y/y) to 102.4 during October and recovered half of the September decline. The index remained near its recent low, [...]

Recent improvement in factory production lent some life to pricing power in the sector. The Industrial Materials Price Index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) increased 2.2% during the last [...]

Wholesale inventories fell 0.4% during September (+4.8% y/y) following a 0.1% August gain, revised from 0.2%. A 0.3% decline had been expected in the Informa Global Markets Survey. Durable goods inventories eased 0.1% (+6.9% y/y) in [...]