Economy in Brief

Initial claims for jobless insurance fell 9,000 to 311,000 and reversed all of the little revised 5,000 rise during the prior week. An unchanged reading of 322,000 had been expected by a Consensus of economists. A claims level below [...]

The consumer price index (CPI-U) edged down 0.1% in August, a bit softer than the Consensus forecast for unchanged. The 0.2% rise in prices less food & energy was in line with expectations. Actually, carried out to more decimal [...]

Euro-zone orders have begun to get choppy with weakness seen in foreign German orders in July and now a M/M drop in Italy’s foreign orders. AND while some of the MFG surveys are off peak, most industrial readings still stand at good [...]

Year-over-year German inflation is lower. But over six months and six months pressures are back in August. The small seeming 0.4% rise in August is enough to boost the three-month growth rate and the six-month rate. Currently, the [...]

Housing starts fell in August by 2.6% to 1.331M units. This result undershot Consensus expectations, which called for a decrease to 1.35M starts. July volume was revised from 1.38M to 1.367M.The August number was the smallest since [...]

Housing starts fell in August by 2.6% to 1.331M units. This result undershot Consensus expectations, which called for a decrease to 1.35M starts. July volume was revised from 1.38M to 1.367M.The August number was the smallest since [...]

The ZEW indicator of expectations for the outlook six months ahead among institutional investors and analysts fell to -18.1% in September from -6.9% in August. This is the second month in which pessimists outnumbered optimists and is [...]

The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)-UBS reported that chain store sales fell sharply last week. The 1.1% decline reversed all of the gains during the prior four weeks. The decline reduced the average level of chain [...]