Economy in Brief: November 2014

The U.S. House Price Index from the Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA) remained unchanged during September following a 0.4% August gain, revised from 0.5%. The latest increase left the y/y rise at 4.3%, its weakest gain since [...]

GDP grew 3.9% last quarter (2.4% y/y), revised up from the advance estimate of 3.5% growth. The gain exceeded expectations for a 3.3% advance in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. So far this year economic growth averaged 2.1%, [...]

The German economy in the third quarter posted weak growth. GDP rose by 0.3% in Q3 2014 after a 0.3% decline in Q2. So Germany has escaped the clutches of recession. Still, the German economy isn't doing well as recent growth rates [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas indicated that business conditions remained positive this month. There were numerous indications, however, of slower growth. The overall business activity index improved m/m as well as y/y. Behind [...]

The Chicago Federal Reserve reported that its National Activity Index (CFNAI) for October fell to 0.14 from 0.29 in September, revised from 0.47. The three-month moving average fell to -0.01 from 0.12. It was the lowest figure since [...]

The Ifo gauge in November surprisingly rose, posting a 2.3 value after logging a -0.6 value in October. All sectors showed improvement in November compared to October with two of them still logging net negative values. The current [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City reported that its Composite index of 10th District factory sector activity recovered to 7 this month after falling sharply to 4 in October. Nevertheless, the figure remained near the middle of [...]

The overall U.S. unemployment rate continued to reach new lows last month. The 5.8% rate was a six-year low and down from 10.0% at its late-2009 peak. Variation in the level amongst individual states continues, but a declining trend [...]