Economy in Brief: 2017

Total business inventories increased 0.2% in July (3.0% y/y) following a 0.5% m/m gain in June. Retail inventories slipped 0.1% m/m (3.4% y/y) in July after a 0.6% m/m jump in June. Motor vehicle and parts inventories were unchanged [...]

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 [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance eased to 284,000 (+10.8% y/y) during the week ended September 9, following an unrevised jump to 298,000 due to Hurricane Harvey in the prior week. Expectations had been for 300,000 initial [...]

The Consumer Price index increased 0.4% (1.9% y/y) during August following a 0.1% July uptick. It was the strongest increase since January and compared to expectations for a 0.3% rise in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The CPI [...]

After falling for two months in a row, European car registrations sprang back strongly to gain 11.9% month-to-month in August. Still, the drops in the previous two months dominate the trend as the three-month (annualized) growth rate [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Volume Index jumped 9.9% (-19.3% y/y) in the week ended September 8 following a 3.3% rise in the prior week. Purchase applications increased 10.9% (6.2% [...]

The headline Final Demand Producer Price Index using new methodology increased 0.2% during August (2.4% y/y) after a 0.1% July dip. A 0.3% rise in the index had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The PPI excluding [...]

EMU industrial production growth is in a range of 2.7% to 3.4% on its sequential annualized growth rates over three months to six months to 12 months; that is a pretty solid habitat. For manufacturing, the range is 3.3% to 3.9%, even [...]