Economy in Brief: July 2014

The Conference Board reported that their reading of consumer confidence improved 5.2% this month (12.2% y/y) to 90.9 from 86.4 in June, revised from 85.2. The latest figure beat expectations for 85.5 in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs reported that chain store sales nudged 0.2% higher last week (4.6% y/y). So far in July sales have risen 3.5% from the June average which slipped 0.2% from May. During [...]

The chart shows how mightily Spain's retail sales have fallen. The chart plots an index of real retail sales; it is not a plot of a growth rate. We can see that, in recent months, sales are stirring, but also that they are only a [...]

The price for a gallon of regular gasoline declined another five cents last week to $3.54 (-2.9% y/y). Prices remained down from the $3.78 per gallon peak reached in February of last year. To account for seasonal volatility, Haver [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported that its July Composite index covering Texas factory sector activity improved to 12.7 from 11.4 in June. The latest figure was the highest since last September. The rise was driven by a jump [...]

Both Italian business sentiment and consumer sentiment dipped in July. This comes at a time of irregular readings around the euro area. The new reading is for Italian business sentiment. It has dipped from 99.9 in June to 99.7 in [...]

Pending sales of single-family homes fell 1.1% (-7.2% y/y) during June, according the National Association of Realtors (NAR), following a little-revised 6.0% May increase. The June figure compared to consensus expectations for a 0.3% [...]

Pending sales of single-family homes fell 1.1% (-7.2% y/y) during June, according the National Association of Realtors (NAR), following a little-revised 6.0% May increase. The latest figure remained 7.3% lower than the high reached [...]