Economy in Brief: August 2019

The persistent pressure of declining economic activity let up a bit in August as the EU Commission's economic sentiment reading for the EMU rose. The index rose to 103.1 from July's 102.7, a monthly gain that still leaves the August [...]

Gross domestic product, adjusted for price inflation, increased 2.0% q/q saar in 2019 Q2, revised down modestly from the initially reported 2.1%. This represents a slowdown from the 3.1% q/q increase in Q1. Compared with a year ago, [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance increased 4,000 to 215,000 (unchanged year-on-year) during the week ending August 24 from a slightly upwardly-revised 211,000 in the prior week. Two weeks ago, claims rose to 221,000. The [...]

The GfK consumer climate reading went dead flat in September at 9.7, stopping three straight months of decline and yet keeping intact a legacy of steady weakening from February 2019. There is even a broader though less steady state of [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Index fell 6.2% w/w (+67.5% y/y) during the week ending August 23, as mortgage interest rates ticked up, following a 0.9% w/w decline in the previous week. [...]

The U.S. pump price for gasoline eased to $2.57 per gallon (-8.9% y/y) last week from the prior week's $2.60 per gallon. Prices have fallen for six consecutive weeks. Haver Analytics calculates a series which is adjusted for the [...]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported that its House Price Index for home purchases inched 0.1% higher during May... The FHFA house price index is a weighted purchase-only index that measures average price changes in [...]

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index edged down 0.5% (+0.3% y/y) in August to 135.1 (1985=100) from 135.8 in July. Despite this slight monthly decrease in the index, it was stronger than the estimate in the Action [...]