Economy in Brief: September 2011

In a another sign of a consumer that is hesitant to consume, chain store sales continue lethargic. Last week, they slipped 0.2% (+2.7% y/y) and added to the prior period's 1.2% drop. So far in September sales are down 1.2% from August [...]

Low interest rates continue to generate strength in the mortgage loan market. The total index of mortgage applications jumped 9.3% last week to 767.9 (March 16, 1990 = 100). That followed a 10.0% rise during the prior week which was [...]

New orders for durable goods slipped an expected 0.1% last month following a little-revised 4.1% jump during July. Last month's figure reflected strong crosscurrents amongst the components, certainly in the transportation sector where [...]

The chart speaks volumes but despite the god-zillions of words used in this verbiage trained economists will look at that chart and have significantly divergent views of what it means. Like the story of the blind men feeling different [...]

The recent volatility in the stock markets of the world, the prices of precious and industrial metals and the price of oil can be attributed, in large part, to the swings in the hopes and fears that the Euro Area debt crisis will or [...]

The Conference Board's September Index of Consumer Confidence showed stability following the harrowing August decline. The index actually ticked up slightly m/m to 45.4 following the nearly one-quarter August downdraft, which was [...]

The seasonally adjusted Case-Shiller 20-City Home Price Index remained unchanged during July for the third straight month, June was revised up from a 0.1% slip reported earlier. Despite their recent stability, prices during the last [...]

Slacked demand and lower crude oil prices helped lower retail gasoline prices last week to their least since late-February. The pump price for a gallon of regular gasoline fell another nine cents to $3.51. Prices were down forty-five [...]