Economy in Brief: 2015

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo increased 4.9% to 64 (18.5% y/y) from a downwardly revised September level of 61. It was the highest level since October 2005 and beat [...]

The job openings rate declined to 3.6% during August from July's cycle-high of 3.8%. It nevertheless remained up versus 3.4% one year earlier. The job openings rate is the number of job openings on the last business day of the month [...]

Overall industrial output eased 0.2% during September (+0.4% y/y) following a 0.1% dip in August, last month reported as -0.4%. The latest decline matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Manufacturing sector [...]

The U.S. Treasury Department reported a $438.9 billion budget deficit during FY2015, narrower than the $483.4 billion deficit in FY2014. It was the smallest deficit since FY2007. As a percent of GDP, the roughly 2.5% was the least [...]

Car registrations in Europe edged lower month-to-month but continue to show solid and strong gains year-over-year across all the countries and aggregates listed in the table. European registrations are up by a strong 9.8% year-on- [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index for October remained negative for the second straight month. At -4.5, the latest figure was barely above September's -6.0 and [...]

The Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions remained negative during October for the third straight month and was nearly the weakest reading since the recession. The latest reading of -11.36 compared to an unrevised [...]

Japan's tertiary index (services sector) in August edged only slightly higher. The industry index has fallen to 96.3 from 97.5. And the industrial production index for August fell by 1.2%, more than the initial estimate of -0.5%. [...]