Economy in Brief: November 2012

The Mortgage Bankers Association index of total mortgage applications slipped 0.9% last week (+45.5% y/y). The decline was led by a 1.5% drop (+61.4% y/y) in applications to refinance an existing loan. Home purchase applications [...]

The U.S. House Price Index from the Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA) rose 0.2% during September following a 0.5% August rise. The 4.4% y/y increase was its strongest since 2006, and followed four successive years of price [...]

Russian corporate profits increased by 84.5 billion rubles from August to 843.4 billion rubles in September and were up 629.1 billion rubles from September, 2011. With the ruble roughly equivalent to 31 U. S. dollars, the comparable [...]

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for November rose slightly to 73.7 from 73.1 in October, revised from 72.2. Consensus expectations had been 73.2 for this month. The latest figure was the highest since February 2008. [...]

Not only are housing prices rising, but the rate of increase is firming. The seasonally adjusted Case-Shiller 20 City Home Price Index rose 0.4% (3.0% y/y) during September, the same as in August. The y/y gain of 3.0% was the fastest [...]

Last week the pump price for a gallon of regular gasoline inched up one cent (3.9%) to $3.44 per gallon. Since their September peak prices have fallen 44 cents per gallon. The w/w price increase ran counter to the norm for this time [...]

Durable goods orders were unchanged (2.3% y/y) last month after a 9.2% recovery during September. The figure contrasted with Consensus expectations for a 1.0% decline. Fewer orders for transportation equipment accounted for much of [...]

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for November rose slightly to 73.7 from 73.1 in October, revised from 72.2. Consensus expectations had been 73.2 for this month. The latest figure was the highest since February 2008. [...]