Economy in Brief: September 2015

The private sector PMI headline for EMU stepped back to 53.9 in September from 54.3 in August. This leaves the headline index back at its July level. Both the manufacturing gauge and the services gauge stepped back with manufacturing [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index increased 13.9% last week (34.9% y/y), recovering declines in the prior two weeks. Applications to refinance loans led the increase with a 17.7% [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index increased 13.9% last week (34.9% y/y), recovering declines in the prior two weeks. Applications to refinance loans led the increase with a 17.7% [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported that its Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Activity rose to 29.3 and stood at the highest level in three months. Nevertheless, the reading was the third consecutive figure below the [...]

The U.S. House Price Index from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) increased 0.6% during July (5.8% y/y), the quickest rate of increase since February. It followed an unrevised 0.2% June gain. The three-month rate of increase [...]

The U.K. industrial sector is showing signs of a slowdown. U.K. industry total orders fell to -7 in September from -1 in August. The reading is substantially weaker than its 12-month average which is also -1. In the historic sweep of [...]

Gasoline prices at the pump fell last week to the lowest level since February. Averaging $2.33 per gallon (-30.6% y/y), gasoline was down 5 cents from a week earlier and below $2.84 in mid-June. Haver Analytics constructs factors [...]

Sales of existing homes declined 4.8% (-5.4% y/y) during August to 5.310 million (AR) from 5.580 million in July, revised from 5.590 million. July sales were the strongest since February 2007. The latest figure fell short of [...]