Economy in Brief: April 2014

The EU sentiment indicator rose in April as the same indicator for EMU fell by 0.5%. All EU-wide sector indicators rose month-to-month except construction. The UK economy is on fire, with its sentiment index in the 94th percentile of [...]

The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs reported that chain store sales improved 1.6% (3.1% y/y) last week, the firmest gain in a month. The rise pulled sales up 3.1% versus last year, the strongest increase [...]

The price for a gallon of regular gasoline increased to $3.71 last week, up 5.5% y/y. The price is close to the $3.78 per gallon peak reached in February of last year. To account for seasonal volatility, Haver Analytics constructs [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported that its Company Outlook Index gained to 23.4 (SA) this month from 9.1 during March. It was the highest level since April 2010. The Production reading led the advance to 24.7, the highest [...]

Following eight straight months of decline, pending sales of single-family homes improved 3.4% during March, according the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The 0.5% February decline was revised from a 0.8% shortfall reported [...]

Italian consumer confidence has moved up sharply and unexpectedly in April. The index that measures confidence jumped to 105.4 in April from 101.9 in March. The index now sits above its average reading of 104 and is positioned in the [...]

Industry output figures for Q4'13, released today by the Commerce Department, provide a detailed value-added break-out of economic performance. Overall economic growth during 2013 averaged 2.6% per quarter, the quickest over the last [...]

UK retail sales rose by 0.4% in March, building on a 1% increase in February. However, these gains are not enough to offset January's 2% decline, leaving the three-month growth rate at a -2.8% annual rate. That result is repeated for [...]