Economy in Brief: 2016

Sales of new single-family homes during November increased 5.2% (16.5% y/y) to 592,000 (SAAR) from an unrevised 563,000 during October. Sales of 575,000 had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The median price of a [...]

Italian retail sales are up sharply in October after falling for three consecutive months. The month's gain is large enough that the three-month annualized growth rate is now accelerating from 12-month to six-month to three-month. [...]

Personal income remained unchanged during November (3.5% y/y) following a 0.5% October rise, revised from 0.6%. A 0.3% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Disposable personal income eased negligibly [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance strengthened to 275,000 (2.2% y/y) in the week ended December 17 following an unrevised slip to 254,000 in the prior week. It was the highest level of claims since June. Expectations had been [...]

The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators remained unchanged during November (0.7% y/y) following an unrevised 0.1% October uptick. A 0.2% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The [...]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) index of U.S. house prices rose 0.4% in October after an unrevised 0.6% gain in September. The y/y change remained fairly steady at 6.2%, as the three-month annualized growth in prices ran [...]

Led by a 13.2% drop in orders for transportation equipment (after a 12.3% m/m surge in October), U.S. durable goods orders recoiled in November, retreating 4.6% m/m (-1.9%y/y) following an upwardly revised 4.8% m/m jump in October. [...]

Economic growth during the third quarter was revised higher to 3.5% (1.7% y/y), up from 3.2% in the second estimate and 2.9% in the advance reading. It remained the strongest increase in two years and exceeded the expectation of 3.3% [...]