Economy in Brief: August 2014

Following a muted performance during all of last year, the cost of food is again leading consumer prices higher. During the last twelve months, the consumer price index for food has risen 2.6%, well ahead of nonfood price inflation of [...]

Germany's consumer climate rating for September fell to 8.6 from 8.9 in August. The drop is the first since January 2013. The climate reading fell by 0.3 percentage points, which is the largest drop since May 2011 (more than three [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that their total Mortgage Market Volume Index rose 2.8% last week (-19.9% y/y) after the prior week's 1.4% gain. Applications were at the highest level since early last month. Applications to [...]

The price for a gallon of regular gasoline declined two cents last week to $3.45 (-2.8% y/y). Prices remained down from the $3.78 per gallon peak reached in February of last year. To account for seasonal volatility, Haver Analytics [...]

The Conference Board reported that their reading of consumer confidence improved 2.3% this month to 92.4 (13.0% y/y) from 90.3 in July, revised from 90.9. The latest figure beat expectations for 88.8 in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

The U.S. House Price Index from the Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA) gained 0.4% during June (5.1% y/y) after a 0.2% May increase, revised from 0.4%. The latest increase was the strongest in three months but it left the 5.1% [...]

The U.K. services sector index for growth prospects turned lower in Q3, falling after nearly 2 years of improving trends. The CBI index is turned lower in the third quarter for both consumer and business and professional categories. [...]

New orders for durable goods surged 22.6% last month (33.8% y/y) following a 2.7% June gain, revised from 0.7%. A 5.5% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The increase reflected a 318% jump (474% y/y) in [...]