Economy in Brief: February 2016

Sales of new single-family homes declined 9.2% during January (-5.2% y/y) to 494,000 (SAAR) and reversed December's 8.2% increase to an unrevised 544,000. December sales were biased by new closing procedures which shifted sales out of [...]

The INSEE household confidence indicator for France fell to 95 in February from 97 in January. The index was last lower six months ago. The index had recouped a lot of its losses by May 2015. The current set back takes it to the [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index declined 4.3% last week (+23.8% y/y) following two weeks of strong increase. So far this month, applications have risen 24.9% from January. Purchase [...]

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index during February declined 5.7% to 92.2 (-6.7% y/y) from 97.8 in January, revised from 98.1. It was the lowest level of confidence since July. The figure disappointed Consensus forecasts [...]

The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales nudged 0.4% higher (7.5% y/y) during January to 5.470 million (SAAR). The rise followed a revised 12.1% December jump. Sales were stronger than the 5.36 million [...]

The Ifo index for Germany has turned sharply lower as the expectation index has weakened abruptly in February. All sector indicator weakened except for construction where spending on housing for migrants may be a stimulating factor. [...]

The $1.73 average pump price (-25.8% y/y) for a gallon of regular gasoline last week was little changed from $1.72 in the prior week, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The price compares to a 2014 high of $3.71 per gallon. [...]

The Markit private sector readings for manufacturing and services backed off in the EMU as well as in Germany and France in February. EMU-wide both manufacturing and services weakened. Both sectors weakened in Germany. France's [...]