Economy in Brief: 2018

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Price Index for house purchases rose 0.3% (5.7% y/y) during October following a 0.2% September rise. Home price appreciation has eased noticeably this year. Over the past six months, the index [...]

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index declined to 128.1 (+4.1% y/y) in December from a slightly upwardly revised 136.4 in November. This was the second consecutive monthly decline in the index. The panelists in the Action [...]

Initial unemployment insurance claims edged down to 216,000 (-10.7% y/y) during the week ended December 22, from an upwardly revised 217,000 during the previous week. The last time initial claims were in this range was 1973. The [...]

Japan has been trying to restore modest inflation to its environment for a long time. The Bank of Japan runs a dedicated policy of pegging the 10-year JGB rate to zero, of pinning short rates below zero and of pumping up its balance [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago reported that its November National Activity index increased to 0.22 following deterioration in October to 0.00, revised from 0.24. Working lower, however, was the three-month moving average to [...]

Reflecting the somewhat softer tone of the national report, only four states were considered to have statistically significant changes (all increases) in payroll employment in November: California, Florida, Wisconsin, and South [...]

Personal income rose 0.2% during November (4.2% y/y) following an unrevised 0.5% October increase. A 0.3% gain was expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Leading last month's rise was a 1.0% hop (5.3% y/y) in proprietors' [...]

Real gross domestic product increased 3.4% (AR, 3.0% y/y) during Q3'18, a downward revision of 0.1% from November’s second estimate. This followed a 4.2% rise during the second quarter. Participants in the Actions Economics Forecast [...]