Economy in Brief: July 2009

Home buyers know a good deal when they see it, and looks like that's what buoyed sales of new homes last month. June sales of new single-family homes increased 11.0% from May to 384,000 after two months of modest increase. Though the [...]

Home buyers know a good deal when they see it, and looks like that's what buoyed sales of new homes last month. June sales of new single-family homes increased 11.0% from May to 384,000 after two months of modest increase. Though the [...]

UK forecasters were looking for Q2 GDP to be down 0.3% from Q1, so they were surprised today at the -0.8% preliminary estimate published by ONS. Press reports emphasize the magnitude of the overall decline, 5.6% year-on-year, and 5.7% [...]

Worries about the prospects for the economy persisted late this month, but they eased somewhat from earlier. The University of Michigan's full-month reading of July consumer sentiment came in at 66.0 versus the mid-month reading of [...]

Worries about the prospects for the economy persisted late this month, but they eased somewhat from earlier. The University of Michigan's full-month reading of July consumer sentiment came in at 66.0 versus the mid-month reading of [...]

Positive growth in jobs may not have yet begun, but the rate of job loss has slowed. The Labor Department's report on employment insurance claims indicated a moderate, and expected, 30,000 increase in initial claims. The gain to [...]

Positive growth in jobs may not have yet begun, but the rate of job loss has slowed. The Labor Department's report on employment insurance claims indicated a moderate, and expected, 30,000 increase in initial claims. The gain to [...]

In its latest report, the Mortgage Bankers Association indicated that mortgage applications overall increased 2.8% but that was the weakest increase in the last three weeks. As a result, applications remained near the lowest level [...]