Economy in Brief: November 2011

Gasoline prices are showing the effects of reduced demand. The pump price for regular gasoline fell another six cents last week to $3.31 per gallon. Prices were the lowest since February when they averaged $3.21. Retail prices usually [...]

George Osborne, UK's, Chancellor of the Exchequer is scheduled to announce tomorrow a 30 billion pound National Infrastructure Plan and a 20 billion loan guarantee program to boost lending to small business. The programs should help [...]

Orders in EMU plunged by 6.4% in September after a gain of 1.4% in August. Domestic MFG orders in the Zone fell by 7.9%. Foreign MFG orders fell by 3.7%. Despite the larger fall in domestic orders in Sep. over three-months foreign [...]

Total new home sales nudged up 1.3% last month to 307,000 (AR) following a 3.4% September gain, revised down from 5.7% reported initially. Sales roughly matched Consensus expectations for 310,000. They have moved sideways since the [...]

Initial claims for jobless insurance rose last week to 393,000 from 391,000 (revised from 388,000) during the week prior. Expectations had been for 390,000 in the Action Economics survey. The 4-week moving average of claims fell to [...]

New orders for durable goods fell 0.7% last month following a revised 1.5% decline during September, initially reported as -0.8%. Another 4.8% decline in transportation orders led the way down for the second consecutive month. Orders [...]

Individuals continue to rely on savings rather than income to support spending. The personal savings rate remained depressed at 3.5%. However, September was revised down to 3.3%, from 3.5% reported last month, and the savings rate [...]

The stock market as a predictor of economic trends lost much of its popularity in the United States, at least, after Paul Samuelson quipped decades ago that the stock market had forecast nine out of the last five recessions. In fact [...]