Economy in Brief: March 2015

The EU Commission indices for the EU and EMU showed improvement in both regions in March. For the broader EU regions, the index of sentiment gained 0.9 points mostly on the back of improved retail sentiment and improved consumer [...]

The French household confidence reading has been stuck in a range of mostly the mid- to high-80s from August 2012 through November 2014. In just the last four months, the household indicator has broken out. Its reading of 93 is the [...]

Real GDP growth of 2.2% during Q4 2014 was unrevised in the latest estimate (2.4% y/y). The increase compared to an expected 2.4% rise in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. During all of last year, real GDP expanded 2.4%, up from [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City reported that business activity moderated significantly this month. The Fed indicated that answers to a special question cited West Coast port disruptions as contributing significantly to the [...]

The EMU is showing a clear pick up in credit and money growth trends as of February 2015. It is beginning to look as though the ECB's special efforts to stimulate credit growth are starting to pay off. The QE effort is too recent to [...]

The labor market remains on a firm footing. Initial claims for jobless insurance in the week ended March 21 declined to 282,000 from an unrevised 291,000 during the prior week. The four-week moving average of initial claims fell to [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that their total Mortgage Market Volume Index increased 9.5% last week (21.0% y/y) to the highest level since early-February. Refinance applications led the way up with a 12.3% w/w increase [...]

The INSEE survey of French business climate slipped to 99 in March from 100 (in January and February), dipping below its historic mean (100). The reading is now slightly subnormal and below its median (rank % = 50 is its median) and [...]