Economy in Brief: February 2011

The Chicago Fed reported that its National Activity Index (CFNAI) fell last month to -0.16 from an upwardly revised 0.18 in December, initially reported at 0.03. The index remained down sharply since its March peak, though it has [...]

Total new home sales in January fell 12.6% to 284,000 and reversed most of the downwardly revised 15.7% December gain. Consensus expectations were for 300,000 sales. Sales have fallen by three-quarters from the all-time record [...]

The downtrend in unemployment appears intact. Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 391,000 last week and reversed most of the prior week's increase to 413,000. The earlier week's figure was revised up slightly from [...]

Volatility is the keyword for recent bookings in most categories of the durable goods factory sector, but the trend remains positive. Stronger orders for aircraft & parts were behind the advance report of a 2.7% jump in January [...]

For the fifth month in the last six, the National Association of Realtors reported a rise in existing home sales. Despite severe winter storms, the January gain of 2.7% to 5.560M from a revised 5.220M in December was to the highest [...]

Euro-Area orders continue to knock down some pretty good numbers. There was a slowing over the previous three months but since then orders have snapped back and are on a tear, up by 1.4% in Oct, 2.2% in Nov and 2.1% in Dec. The three [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that overall mortgage applications rebounded 13.2% last week and recovered most of the prior two weeks' decline. Nevertheless, applications remained near the lowest level since 2008. [...]

That was the cry in the 1985 hit movie "Back to the Future." Today, it's no joke. Now the risk that political turmoil in the country will involve others in the region has oil markets concerned about supply. As a result, crude oil [...]