Economy in Brief: January 2013

For all of last year, new home sales rose 19.2% from 2011 to 366,000 units. However, during December sales of new homes fell to 369,000 (AR) from 398,000 during November, revised from 377,000. Consensus expectations had been for sales [...]

The EMU MFG and Services PMIs are continuing to move higher. BOTH sets of indices point to ongoing declines in output for MFG and for services, respectively. But the pace of the contraction is slowing. It's the highest MFG and [...]

During all of last year, the Leading Economic Indicator index from the Conference Board grew 2.0%, down from 5.1% and 8.0% increases during the prior two years. Last month, the leaders rose 0.5% following a revised no change in [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 330,000 (-11.3% y/y) during the week ended January 19 versus an unrevised 335,000 a week earlier. Consensus expectations were for 355,000 claims. The four week moving average of claims [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association index of total mortgage applications rose 7.0% (15.4% y/y) last week yet still were below the late-September peak. Applications to refinance an existing loan rose another 7.7% (15.3% y/y), adding to [...]

The pump price for a gallon of regular gasoline moved up 2 cents last week to $3.32 per gallon after three straight weeks at $3.30. Nevertheless, since their September peak, prices remain down 56 cents per gallon. The norm for this [...]

The U.S. House Price Index from the Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA) rose a firm 0.6% during November following a like increase in October. The 5.6% y/y increase was its strongest since 2006 following four successive years of [...]

The Zew index jumped in January in keeping with improved perceptions of conditions in the euro-Zone. German elections are still in train and a recent local loss of support for Merkel in Lower Saxony to the center-left may make her [...]