Economy in Brief: 2017

Sales of new single-family homes jumped 17.5% (26.6% y/y) to 733,000 (SAAR) during November following 624,000 sales in October, revised from 685,000. Sales were at the highest level since July 2007. Expectations in the Action [...]

Personal consumption expenditures increased 0.6% (4.5% y/y during November following a 0.2% October gain, revised from 0.3%. A 0.4% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Adjusted for price inflation, personal [...]

GfK estimates German confidence for the month ahead. For January 2018, GfK sees a rise in confidence to just short of an all-time high. This only entails a 0.1 tick higher in January. Still, the message is that German confidence, high [...]

The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators rose 0.4% during November following an unrevised 1.2% jump during October. A 0.4% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Three-month growth [...]

Initial unemployment insurance claims rose to 245,000 (-8.9% y/y) in the week ended December 16 from an unrevised 225,000 in the prior week. It was the highest level of claims in five weeks. Expectations had been for 232,000 claims in [...]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) index of U.S. house prices rose 6.6% y/y in October, up only slightly from a 6.5% y/y increase in September. While this reading is down from the recent peak of 7.1% in April, the annual pace [...]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) index of U.S. house prices rose 6.6% y/y in October, up only slightly from a 6.5% y/y increase in September. While this reading is down from the recent peak of 7.1% in April, the annual pace [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index rose to 26.2 in December from 22.7 in November. Expectations had been for a reading of 20.5 in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]