Economy in Brief: June 2018

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that pending sales of existing homes fell 0.5% during May (-2.2% y/y) following a 1.3% April decline. Sales fell to an index level of 105.9 (2001=100) which was the lowest level [...]

EMU money and credit growth both picked up in May but mainly in nominal terms. The graph shows the nominal year-on-year growth rates and in that depiction the advance in money and credit growth in May hardly stands out. When deflated [...]

New orders for durable goods fell 0.6% during May (+9.2% y/y) following a 1.0% April decline, revised from -1.7%. A 0.7% drop had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. During the last three months, orders have risen [...]

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index declined to 126.4 during June (+7.8% y/y) following a May rise to 128.8, initially reported as 128.0. The June level fell short of expectations for 127.5 in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's Nonmanufacturing Business Index of current conditions at the company level increased to 40.7 in June, the highest level in three years. Fifty-six percent of respondents reported an increase [...]

Japan’s PPI jumped by 0.5% in May as both consumer goods prices and intermediate goods prices gained 0.6% on the month. The headline PPI rose by 0.5% after a meager 0.1% increase in April and a 0.2% decline in March. In part, as a [...]

Retail gasoline prices declined to $2.83 per gallon last week (+23.8% y/y) from $2.88 per gallon during the prior week. Prices have fallen for four consecutive weeks. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas indicated in its Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey that the General Business Activity Index rose to 36.5 during June after increasing to 26.8 in May. The rise brought it to the highest level since [...]