Economy in Brief

The Conference Board’s Index of Consumer Confidence rose slightly more than expected in May. The index rose 3.5% m/m to 83.8 and added to a 31.9% jump the prior month. Consensus expectations were for a rise to 82.5. Since December of [...]

The OECD Index of Leading Indicators (Big 7) fell in March for the second consecutive month. The 0.3% decline followed a 0.4% drop in February. The drop pulled the index 0.7% below December and 0.9% below the peak last May. Recent [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance unexpectedly rose last week for the first week in four. The 1.7% rise to 428,000 was versus Consensus expectations for a decline to 415,000. Claims in the prior week were revised up. The [...]

The index of mortgage applications compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association surged 10.2% last week, the third double digit rise in as many weeks. During the period mortgage applications have risen by nearly one half. Applications [...]

The French economy rose slightly in the first quarter of 2003 in contrast to the economies of Germany, Italy and the Netherlands where growth declined. In Germany and the Netherlands, the declines were the second in a row. The rise in [...]

Chain store sales slipped another 0.1% last week following a 0.2% dip the prior week, according to the BTM-UBSW survey. So far in May sales were 2.0% above the April average owing to a sharp 2.1% jump in the first week of the month. [...]

Data released last Friday show that GDP in Japan rose 0.01% in real terms in the first quarter of 2003 while in nominal terms it declined by 0.62%. The deflator, which has declined in every year since 1995 with the exception of 1997 [...]

The Conference Board reported that the Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators rose 0.1% last month, as expected. Declines in the prior two months were unrevised. Gains amongst the leaders' component series improved sharply to [...]