Economy in Brief

Retail sales in Germany, as reported by the Bundesbank, rose 2.2% in January from December, the highest month-to-month rise since February, 2000. All the major categories of retail spending rose except motor vehicles and parts, which [...]

Chain store sales rose only 0.2% in the week following the President's Day snowstorm when sales dropped 0.8%, according to the BTM-UBSW survey. For the full month, sales in February fell 0.2% (-1.0% y/y) from the January average. [...]

Personal income rose slightly less in January than Consensus expectations for a 0.4% gain. The 0.3% rise was the sixth consecutive monthly increase at that rate. During the last two months, stability in income growth has been fostered [...]

Real GDP growth last quarter was revised up unexpectedly. Consensus expectations were for a revision to 1.0% growth. The surprise was that domestic demand growth was stronger than initially estimated. Growth in final sales to domestic [...]

Durable goods orders rose much more than expected last month. The gain followed a slight December decline that was revised from a slight gain. Consensus expectations had been for a 1.0% rise. The rise in durable orders caught up with [...]

As the effective interest rate on a 30-Year mortgage dropped below 6%, applications to refinance existing mortgages surged. The index of mortgage applications compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association rose 5.5% last week, but the [...]

February indicators of business and consumer confidence in Europe show a mixed picture. In general, businessmen appear to be slightly more optimistic in February than they were in January while consumers are more pessimistic. The [...]

Chain store sales dropped 0.8% last week according to the BTM-UBSW survey. This latest drop followed declines in two of the prior three weeks. The President's Day snowstorm which hit roughly half of the country likely accounted for [...]