Economy in Brief: July 2014

Germany's Ifo index fell for the third straight month in July. The index fell to 8.6 from June's 11.8. In April it stood at 14.7; it has lost 6.1 points in four months. A number of German reports have been weak recently, ranging from [...]

New orders for durable goods improved 0.7% (-1.6% y/y) during June and reversed most of an unrevised 1.0% May decline. The increase roughly matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. A 1.8% rebound (-10.4% y/y) in [...]

New home sales during June fell 8.1% (-11.5% y/y) to 406,000 and reversed May's 8.3% gain to 442,000, initially reported as 504,000. Sales during April also were revised lower. The latest figure fell short of expectations for 480,000 [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City reported that its July Composite index of 10th District factory sector activity improved to 9 and made up most of its decline to 6 during June. The latest figure remained in the range of [...]

New home sales during June fell 8.1% (-11.5% y/y) to 406,000 and reversed May's 8.3% gain to 442,000, initially reported as 504,000. Sales during April also were revised lower. The latest figure fell short of expectations for 480,000 [...]

The European Monetary Union's flash total private sector PMI rose to a level of 54 in July from 52.8 in June. That's the highest flash reading since April. The averages for 12 months, six months and three months show that progress has [...]

Improvement in the labor market may have picked up steam this month. Initial unemployment insurance claims fell unexpectedly to 284,000 during the week ended July 19 from a revised 303,000 in the prior week, earlier reported as [...]

The French business climate indicator from the INSEE survey fell in July, continuing a streak of erosion. The indicator was last lower in September of last year. It sits in the 39th percentile of its historic queue of data back to [...]