Economy in Brief: 2019

The Consumer Price Index remained unchanged during September (1.7% y/y) following a 0.1% uptick in August. Expectations had been for a 0.1% rise in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The CPI excluding food & energy rose 0.1% (2.4% [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance eased to 210,000 (-0.9% y/y) during the week ended October 5 from 220,000 in the previous week, revised from 219,000. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 217,000. The four-week [...]

The BoF survey indicator fell to 96.0 in September from 98.9 in August. With the survey in hand, the Bank of France is looking for Q3 GDP to gain 0.3%, the same as its previous estimate. However, the survey indicator has only a 27th [...]

Wholesale inventories increased 0.2% during August (6.2% y/y), the same as in July. A 0.4% rise had been expected in the Informa Global Markets Survey. Durable goods inventories rose 0.3% (8.3% y/y) in August after holding steady in [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate slipped to 4.4% during August from an unrevised 4.5% in July. It remained below the 4.8% record reached in January. The job openings rate is the job openings [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its Mortgage Loan Index increased 5.2% (68.0% y/y) in the week ending October 4, following an 8.1% rise during the prior week. Applications to refinance a loan gained 9.8% (+162.5% y/y) [...]

These data are reported by the U.S. Department of Energy. The price data can be found in Haver's WEEKLY and DAILY databases. More detail on prices, demand, production and inventories, including regional breakdowns, are in OILWKLY. [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) reported that its Small Business Optimism Index declined 1.3% (-5.7% y/y) to 101.8 during September. It was the third decline in four months and left the index at the lowest level [...]