Economy in Brief: March 2019

U.S. retail gasoline prices rose this week to $2.62 per gallon (-0.9% y/y), continuing their upward trend from the low of $2.24 early in January. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in gasoline pump [...]

New home building activity weakened last month. Total housing starts during February declined 8.7% (-9.9% y/y) to 1.162 million units (SAAR) from 1.273 million in January, revised from 1.230 million. December's level also was revised [...]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Price Index for house purchases rose 0.6% m/m (5.6% y/y) in January following an unrevised 0.3% m/m increase in December. The January increase was the largest monthly gain since February 2018, [...]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Price Index for house purchases rose 0.6% m/m (5.6% y/y) in January following an unrevised 0.3% m/m increase in December. The January increase was the largest monthly gain since February 2018, [...]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Price Index for house purchases rose 0.6% m/m (5.6% y/y) in January following an unrevised 0.3% m/m increase in December. The January increase was the largest monthly gain since February 2018, [...]

I keep hearing that the US economy is booming. After all, in the first quarter of this year, real GDP increased at an annual rate of 3.1% vs. Q4:2018 and 3.2% vs. Q1:2018. Given that our labor force has grown at only 0.8% compounded [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported in its Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey that the General Business Activity Index backpedaled to 8.3 during March and reversed some of its February Improvement. The index remained well [...]

The IFO diffusion index for March is unchanged. But the current conditions index rose to 29 from 27.3 while the expectations index slid to -9.8 from -8.5. And that mixed and thin gruel was enough for markets to boost the 10-year bund [...]