Economy in Brief: 2012

November was a better month for individuals' income & outlays. Personal income grew 0.6% last month following an unrevised 0.1% October uptick. A 0.3% rise was expected. The gain was the strongest since February and lifted the y/y [...]

The Leading Economic Indicator index from the Conference Board declined 0.2% during November following a 0.3% October gain, initially estimated at 0.2%. Fifty percent of the component series had a positive influence on the index last [...]

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that sales of existing homes increased 5.9% in November to a 5.040M annual rate, the highest since November 2009. October's sales total was revised down slightly to 4.760M from 4.790 [...]

With the passage of Hurricane Sandy, business activity improved. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank reported that its General Business Conditions Index rose sharply to 8.1 this month after falling to an unrevised -10.7 during [...]

Economic growth during Q3'12 was better than reported initially. Real GDP increased at a revised 3.1% (2.6% y/y) annual rate, up from 2.7% estimated last month and 2.0% initially. The gain improved from 1.3% during Q2 and beat [...]

For the first time in five weeks, initial claims for jobless insurance rose. Claims increased 17,000 during the week ended December 15 to 361,000 from 344,000 in the prior period, initially reported as 343,000. Consensus expectations [...]

Industrial commodity prices have shown upward movement of late despite signs of weakening growth in factory sector output. At 171.2, the latest price index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) [...]

IFO expectations turned higher in December rising for the second month in a row and not falling for three-months in a row. Still, since September the current index has shed about three index points (out of approximately 110), But [...]