Economy in Brief: 2012

The latest report from the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs indicated renewed vigor in consumer spending. Chain store sales jumped 4.3% last week (3.5% y/y) to the highest level since late-July. During the [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association index of total mortgage applications slumped 12.3% last week (23.9% y/y) to the lowest level since early last month. The decline was led by a 13.8% drop (+28.5% y/y) in applications to refinance an [...]

Builders began slightly fewer residential housing units last month, but earlier gains left recent levels near the four year high. Total housing starts fell 3.0% (+21.6% y/y) during November to 861,000 (AR) from 888,000 during October, [...]

Ireland continues to recover from the recession of 2008. According to data released today, GDP in Ireland rose a modest 0.18% in the third quarter from the second quarter and was 0.79% above GDP of a year ago. Ever since the third [...]

The chart on Italian export and import growth and its trade balance tells volumes about how austerity works. In 2011 Italian imports began to fall behind Italian export growth as domestic growth slowed. Of course, the whole of the [...]

Petroleum prices continue under pressure. The pump price for a gallon of regular gasoline fell another ten cents last week (+0.8% y/y) to $3.25 per gallon. Since their September peak prices have fallen sixty three cents per gallon. [...]

Recent improvement in the housing market won't let up. The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo increased this month to 47 from a downwardly revised 45 in November. For all of 2012, [...]

The U.S. current account deficit lessened last quarter to $107.5B from $118.1B in Q2. The easing left the deficit to GDP ratio at 2.7%, its least in roughly three years. Total exports gained 0.2% (1.7% y/y) although goods exports [...]