Economy in Brief

At $725.8B the U.S. foreign trade deficit set another record last year, up from the prior record of $617.6B in 2004. The year was capped by a December deficit in goods & services trade of $65.7B versus the November deficit that was [...]

At $725.8B the U.S. foreign trade deficit set another record last year, up from the prior record of $617.6B in 2004. The year was capped by a December deficit in goods & services trade of $65.7B versus the November deficit that was [...]

What happens to your balance of payments when there's an earthquake in your country? Your imports rise sharply, but funds will also flow into your country by way of aid and remittances. Pakistan's balance of payments for Q4, reported [...]

Initial claims for jobless insurance ticked 4,000 higher last week to 277,000 following an unrevised 11,000 worker decline the prior week. Initial claims have been below 300,000 during five of the last six weeks. Consensus [...]

Initial claims for jobless insurance ticked 4,000 higher last week to 277,000 following an unrevised 11,000 worker decline the prior week. Initial claims have been below 300,000 during five of the last six weeks. Consensus [...]

Three Central and Eastern European countries reported January consumer prices today. Two of them, the Czech Republic and Latvia, show signs of upward creep in their CPI inflation, while Albania's is easing. In the Czech Republic, the [...]

Record warm temperatures in the U.S. have helped lower the price of natural gas this year. Since a high of $14.51 per mmbtu during the middle of December prices fell 42% through last week to $8.40 and were down again yesterday at [...]

The total number of mortgage applications fell again last week, by 1.2%, following the prior period's 5.1% drop. Mortgage applications during all of January rose 5.2% following three months of sharp decline but began February down [...]