Economy in Brief: 2015

At today's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed indicated that, "Recent global economic and financial developments may restrain economic activity and are likely to put further downward pressure on inflation in the [...]

The current account deficit of $109.7 billion in Q2 eased from $118.3 billion in Q1 and compared to $92.0 billion in Q2'14. The data are seasonally adjusted. The deficit in goods trade eased and the services surplus grew The surplus [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index for September deteriorated to -6.0 following an unrevised improvement to 8.3 in August. It was the first negative reading since [...]

Initial unemployment insurance claims declined to 264,000 (-18.0% y/y) during the week ended September 12 from an unrevised 275,000 during the prior week. It was the lowest level of claims since the third week of July. The four week [...]

Housing starts during August eased 3.0% to 1.126 million (AR) from 1.161 million in July, last month reported as 1.206 million. So far this quarter, starts are 1.3% below the Q2 average. The latest figure fell short of expectations [...]

On a trend basis, Japan's exports are still stronger than its imports; thus, a move to surplus should still lie ahead for Japan. However, in the last few months, the import decline has abated (month-to-month growth) and imports have [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index fell 7.0% last week (+2.2% y/y) to the lowest level since early last month. Applications to refinance a loan led the decline with a 9.1% fall (+0.5% [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo improved to 62 (5.1% y/y) from an unrevised August level of 61. It was the highest level since October 2005 and beat expectations for 61 in [...]