Economy in Brief: November 2010

While Germany's IFO survey is still looking to be bullet-proof in October orders fell and fell sharply in September, setting a pattern to be followed throughout the e-Zone (see the accompanying table). German domestic orders dropped [...]

Tom Moeller began last month's discussion of durable goods order with the warning, "Be not misled by the headline figure", which was +3.3%, a hefty one-month gain. He continued, "The underlying trend of durable orders has weakened [...]

Weakness in the housing market was reinforced with this month's readings. Yesterday, the figures on sales of existing single-family homes slipped. Today's reading indicated that sales of new homes collapsed. The 8.1% decline to [...]

The sour mood adopted by the consumer this summer seems to be brightening. For November, the full-month consumer sentiment reading of 71.6 was a marked improvement from mid-month. The University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped last week to 407,000 from 444,000 in the November 13 week (revised from 439,000). This was the lowest weekly number since July 19, 2008. The 4-week moving average, which smoothes out [...]

Personal income may be finally on the mend. Overall income recovered 0.5% last month after a September dip and a 0.5% August gain, both of which were slightly higher than reported last month. A 0.4% gain last month had been expected. [...]

It may just be a temporary respite, but the pump price for regular gasoline eased last week to $2.88 per gallon, off a penny from the prior week. Nevertheless, prices have risen six cents this month after last month's ten cent gain. [...]

Personal income may be finally on the mend. Overall income recovered 0.5% last month after a September dip and a 0.5% August gain, both of which were slightly higher than reported last month. A 0.4% gain last month had been expected. [...]