Economy in Brief: 2015

The overall EU sentiment indices are moving higher year-over-year in the three largest EMU nations and for the EMU index itself. In September, the indices of the three largest EMU members also moved higher while the index for Spain, [...]

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that pending sales of single-family homes declined 1.4% during August (+6.7% y/y) following an unrevised 0.5% July gain. Expectations were for a 0.4% increase according to Bloomberg. [...]

Personal income increased 0.3% during August following a 0.5% July rise, revised from 0.4%. The latest gain was the weakest since March and disappointed expectations for a 0.4% rise in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The source [...]

Italian consumer confidence rose sharply to 112.7 in September from 109.3 in August. The monthly change in confidence marks a substantial rise that has been larger only 15 times in the last 248 months, making it a top 7% event. The [...]

Real economic activity grew at a revised 3.9% annual rate in the second quarter (2.7% y/y) versus last month's estimate of 3.7% and the initial estimate of a 2.3% rise. This compares to a 0.6% Q1 advance, which was restrained by [...]

French consumer sentiment increased to 97 in September from 94 in August, up from its 12-month average of 92. Still, the index sits only in the 50.2 percentile of its historic queue of data. That leaves it just a smidgen above its [...]

The Chicago Federal Reserve reported that its National Activity Index (CFNAI) during August collapsed to -0.41 after jumping to 0.51 in July, revised from 0.34. Ironing out this volatility was the three-month moving average which [...]

Initial unemployment insurance claims rose to 267,000 (-8.4% y/y) during the week ended September 19 from an unrevised 264,000 during the prior week. The four week moving average of claims was little-changed at 271,750. The Action [...]