Economy in Brief

According to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) home prices in the U.S. rose last quarter but the 0.9% gain was the slowest since 1998 and the y/y increase of 7.7% was the worst since 2003. Price declines were [...]

The Chicago Federal Reserve Bank's Midwest manufacturing index fell 0.4% last month and it was the third consecutive monthly decline. The three month growth rate in the index dropped to -6.5% (AR), its worst since 2003. During the [...]

The Conference Board reported that its Index of Help-Wanted Advertising in October ticked up to 30 in October from a downwardly revised reading of 29 in September. During the last ten years there has been a 57% correlation between the [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance jumped 34,000 last week to 357,000 from an upwardly revised level during the prior period. Consensus expectations had been for a decline to 317,000. No specific factors were sighted by the [...]

Personal income for October rose a bit less than expectations with a 0.4% increase after an unrevised 0.5% September gain. The disappointment in last month's income gain, however, was confined to a 3.9% (-8.7% y/y) decline in rental [...]

Personal income for October rose a bit less than expectations with a 0.4% increase after an unrevised 0.5% September gain. The disappointment in last month's income gain, however, was confined to a 3.9% (-8.7% y/y) decline in rental [...]

Industrial production in Japan surged in October by 1.6%, more than reversing a 0.7% setback in September. Analysts polled by major press services had looked for September's decline to be repeated in October by 0.4% or 0.5%, so the [...]

The total number of mortgage applications repeated the prior period's decline and fell 3.9% last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Last week's decline was due to a collapse in applications to refinance which doubled [...]