Economy in Brief: July 2017

Initial unemployment insurance claims increased to 244,000 (-5.2%) during the week ended July 22 from 234,000 in the prior week, revised from 233,000. Expectations called for 240,000 claims in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The [...]

Globally only the UK growth rate for money is accelerating; Central bank communication requires a code book EMU M2 money supply growth ticked higher in June as the year-on-year growth rate moved up to 5.1% from 4.9% where it has [...]

New orders for durable goods strengthened 6.5% (16.1% y/y) during June following a 0.1% May slip, revised from -1.1%. A 2.8% increase in orders had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The rise in orders reflected [...]

At today's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the targeted federal funds rate was held steady in a range of 1.00% to 1.25%. This followed two increases earlier this year. Additionally, the Fed indicated that shrinking its [...]

At today's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the targeted federal funds rate was held steady in a range of 1.00% to 1.25%. This followed two increases earlier this year. Additionally, the Fed indicated that shrinking its [...]

The French industrial climate gauge has barely moved over the last four months. The gauge sits at a relatively elevated level at the 84th percentile of its ranked queue of data since 2001 (or 89th percentile since 1990). The [...]

Sales of new single-family homes improved 0.8% to 610,000 during June following a 4.9% May increase to 605,000, revised from 610,000. Despite the rise, sales were 4.4% below the March peak. Expectations had been for 615,000 sales in [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Volume Index rose 0.4% (-23.3% y/y) in the week ended July 21 following a 6.3% increase in the prior week. Applications to refinance increased 3.4% (-41.4% [...]