Economy in Brief: 2017

In the month before housing starts & permits were meaningfully affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, stability in these housing data was evident. Total starts eased 0.8% (+0.5 y/y) to 1.180 million units (AR) in August from 1.190 [...]

U.S. PCE and EMU HICP track similar trends Inflation continues to bedevil central banks. In the EMU, the latest harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) runs at 1.5%, still below its target of a 'little less than 2%.' The core HICP [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo fell 4.5% to 64 during September and reversed its 4.7% August increase, which was lessened after revision. As a result of this month's [...]

Total retail sales and spending at restaurants declined 0.2% (+3.5% y/y) during August. The July estimate was revised lower to 0.3% from 0.6% and June's figure was reduced to -0.1% from 0.3%. A 0.1% increase had been expected in the [...]

Total business inventories increased 0.5% in June (2.8% y/y)............. Business sales increased 0.3% (4.3% y/y)............. The business sector inventory-to-sales ratio rose to 1.38.......... The manufacturing and trade data are [...]

The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions for September eased to 24.4 following its 15.4 point jump to 25.2 during August. The latest level was nearly the highest since September 2014 and continued to [...]

Despite its herky-jerky behavior, the EMU trade surplus is clearly in a declining phase. The surplus is at 18.6 billion euros in July, down from 21.7 billion euros in June and well below its 2016 average of 22.1 billion euros per [...]

The Federal Reserve indicated that storm damage curtailed the change in total industrial production, as well as the change in factory sector activity, by roughly 3/4 percentage point during August. Industrial production declined 0.9% [...]