Economy in Brief: July 2013

New orders for durable goods jumped 4.2% last month (10.9% y/y) following an upwardly revised 5.2% increase during May, earlier reported as 3.6%. The gain easily outpaced consensus expectations for a 1.0% rise. The transportation [...]

The German IFO index saw the business climate reading moved to 106.2 in July from 105.9 in June, a gain of 0.3%. The current situation metric gained to 110.1 from 109.5, a rise of 0.6%. However, business expectations that are looking [...]

New home sales advanced 8.3% in June to 497,000, up 38.1% from a year ago and the largest volume since May 2008. Sales for May 2013 and the prior two months were revised a bit lower, however, with May now at 459,000 compared with [...]

Today is a red-letter day of some sort. China reported out a weakening in its manufacturing sector survey at the same time that Europe reported out improved economic numbers…and markets chose to react positively to the numbers [...]

Today is a red-letter day of some sort. China reported out a weakening in its manufacturing sector survey at the same time that Europe reported out improved economic numbers…and markets chose to react positively to the numbers [...]

Today is a red-letter day of some sort. China reported out a weakening in its manufacturing sector survey at the same time that Europe reported out improved economic numbers…and markets chose to react positively to the numbers [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that the effective interest rate on a 15-year mortgage ticked lower again, last week to 3.72% from 3.80%. That remained up, however, from the early-May low of 2.89%. The rise in rates follows [...]

Consumer spending has rebounded this month following its June retrenchment. The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs reported that chain store sales rebounded 1.4% last week (2.1% y/y), pulling sales to a record [...]