Economy in Brief: October 2010

Were we nuts to have been optimistic on Europe because its performance had held up in the face of austerity measures implemented across the continent? Is German retailing suddenly become this weak and is it slipping into the soup? [...]

Consumer sentiment has been unchanged for the last four months. The University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment reported that its full month measure for October declined versus September to 67.7, about its level during July. [...]

The employment cost index for private industry workers slowed to a 0.4% increase in Q3 total compensation from 0.5% growth in Q2. The year-on-year gain was 2.0%, a little bit better than Q2's 1.9%. For all civilian workers, the [...]

Real GDP increased 2.0% (SAAR) last quarter. The increase roughly matched Q2 as well as expectations for a 2.1% rise according to the Bloomberg survey. So far since the last recession GDP growth has averaged 2.8%, a figure that is [...]

EMU and EU sentiment rose and rose strongly in October. Sentiment rose in four of the five largest EU economies. Spain was the sole example of backtracking in October. We include in the table measures of the queue percentile standing [...]

Initial claims dropped sharply last week to 434,000, the lowest level since early-July. It's happened before. Initial claims for unemployment insurance would fall sharply, suggesting labor market improvement, only to subsequently [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that a 3.2% w/w rise in mortgage applications recovered some of the prior week's decline. The stabilization left the uptrend in applications intact. They were at their highest level since May [...]

Home sales remain in the doldrums. The Census Department reported September new home sales rose 6.6% to 307,000 from an unrevised 288,000. Nevertheless the latest remained near the series' low. Expectations were for September sales of [...]