Economy in Brief: November 2018

The Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer surged to 66.4 during November from an unrevised 58.4 in October. It was the highest level since December and followed three consecutive months of decline. The Action Economics [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose 3,000 in the week ended November 17 to 224,000....... Continuing claims for unemployment insurance actually decreased slightly in the November 10 week to 1.668 million Data on weekly [...]

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that pending home sales during October declined 2.6% to the lowest level since July 2014. Sales were off 6.7% y/y and the fall reversed a little-revised September rise. The index [...]

Individuals seized the opportunity presented by improved earnings and easier pricing power to ramp up spending. Personal income rose 0.5% during October (4.3% y/y) following an unrevised 0.2% September gain. A 0.4% increase was [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance increased to 234,000 (-2.1% y/y) during the week ended November 24 from an unrevised 224,000 in the previous week. This is the highest number of initial claims since mid-May, though claims [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Index increased 5.5% (-14.4% y/y) last week following steady declines since early-last month. Purchase loan applications surged 8.8% (1.3% y/y) after a [...]

The market for new homes is continuing to weaken. New single-family home sales fell 8.9% (-12.0% y/y) in October to 544,000 (SAAR). It was the fourth decrease in the last five months and carried sales down to their lowest since March [...]

The market for new homes is continuing to weaken. New single-family home sales fell 8.9% (-12.0% y/y) in October to 544,000 (SAAR). It was the fourth decrease in the last five months and carried sales down to their lowest since March [...]