Economy in Brief: August 2015

Initial claims for unemployment insurance eased to 271,000 (-8.9% y/y) during the week ended August 22 from an unrevised 277,000 in the week earlier. The four-week moving average rose slightly to 272,500. The Action Economics Forecast [...]

Gross domestic product advanced at a revised 3.7% annual rate (2.7% y/y) in Q2 versus the initial estimate of 2.3% growth. The figure represents broad improvement from a 0.6% Q1 advance, restrained by severe winter weather and West [...]

The INSEE business climate indicator was at 103 in August, the same level as July and May, compared with June's lower reading of 100. Through March of this year, the index has been fluctuating in a range of 99 to 100. In May, the [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index improved 0.2% last week (17.4% y/y) to a three-month high following a 3.6% rise during the week earlier. Home purchase applications powered the rise [...]

The factory sector is moving onto a firmer footing. New orders for durable goods increased 2.0% during July (-19.6% y/y) following a 4.1% June gain, revised up from 3.4%. The increase compared to expectations for a 0.5% decline in the [...]

The CBI survey of UK retail sales advanced in August even though sales had been expected to weaken. And sales expected for the month ahead, September, have surged and stand above their 12-month average. U.K. sales in August posted a [...]

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index recovered 11.5% this month (8.7% y/y) to 101.5 from a little-revised 91.0 in July. The reading was the highest since January and beat expectations for 93.0 in the Action Economics [...]

New home sales during July increased 5.4% to 507,000 (SAAR) following a 7.7% June decline to a little-revised 481,000. The rebound left sales in the middle of the range maintained since late-last year. Sales of 510,000 were expected [...]