Economy in Brief

Sentiment among German analysts and institutional investors declined sharply in August according to the ZEW index of the Mannheim-based ZEW Center for European Economic Research. The index fell 3.1 points to 45.3 from 48.4 in July. [...]

Housing starts jumped 8.3% last month to 1.978M, almost exactly offsetting their June decline of 7.7% (revised from the initial report of 8.5%). Forecasters anticipated some of the rebound, having projected a 1.89 M total. Single- [...]

Industrial production recovered in July after its June fall. However, the 0.4% gain was less than the 0.5% market forecasters had looked for, and June itself was revised lower, from a 0.3% decline to a 0.5% decline. The hints of [...]

The Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) fell 0.1% in July versus Consensus expectations for a 0.1-0.2% rise. As last month, the surprise was fueled by energy prices, which dropped 1.9% after July's 2.6% surge. Seasonally adjusted gasoline [...]

The Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) fell 0.1% in July versus Consensus expectations for a 0.1-0.2% rise. As last month, the surprise was fueled by energy prices, which dropped 1.9% after July's 2.6% surge. Seasonally adjusted gasoline [...]

Of the euro zone countries that have reported second quarter Gross Domestic Product results, the Netherlands is the only one to date, to show a decline. In percentage terms the decline was -0.20% and, in euros, 191 million. Looking at [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index reported by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) rebounded in this month's survey to 71, 4 points higher than in July. The index was even with last August's level. The index of single [...]

In June, net foreign purchases of securities traded in US markets totaled $71.8 billion, more than May's $65.9 billion. The latter figure, though, was revised upward from an original $56.4 billion. So there has been considerably more [...]