Economy in Brief: December 2011

Good deals prompt home sales. Such is the message from the National Association of Realtors which reported that November sales of existing homes jumped 4.0% to 4.420M (AR, +12.2% y/y) following a 1.4% October gain. The latest was the [...]

Activity in the mortgage market continues to be buoyed by efforts to lower financing costs. The index of total mortgage applications slipped 2.6% last week to 659.3 (March 16, 1990 = 100). The decline would have been greater were it [...]

The UK retail index rose to a +9 in December after posting a -19 in November. Sales have been expected to slip as sales for this ‘time of year’ were projected at a -36. Orders also ‘improved’ to a -4 from a -25 result back in [...]

In spite of the financial troubles in the Euro Area, German business confidence improved in December. According to the IFO, their measure of business confidence rose from 106.6 (2005=100) in November to 107.2 in December. The measure [...]

This season's holiday selling gained steam last week. Chain store sales jumped 3.4% (4.6% y/y) to the highest level since early-August. During the last ten years there has been a 66% correlation between the y/y change in chain store [...]

Energy prices were under broad-based pressure last week. The pump price for regular gasoline dropped six cents to $3.23 per gallon. Prices remained the lowest since February when they averaged $3.21. Retail prices usually decline this [...]

The shorter term or ‘sequential’ trade trends are not so clear but the graph shows a clear trend in EMU exports and imports. Exports and imports have been losing broadly after seeing growth rates peak in early 2010. The deficit [...]

Housing activity firmed last month. The level of housing starts overall rose to 685,000 (AR) during November from 627,000 in October, revised down from 628,000 reported last month. Overall starts have risen 20.6% from the low of Q4'10 [...]