Economy in Brief: June 2014

The price for a gallon of regular gasoline ticked higher to $3.70 last week (3.6% y/y). The price has been near the current level since April but remained down from the $3.78 per gallon peak reached in February of last year. To [...]

Earlier improvement in home sales picked up steam last month. Sales of existing single-family homes in May jumped 4.9% (-5.0% y/y) to 4.890 million (AR) from 4.660 million in April, earlier reported as 4.650 million. Despite the [...]

The overall EMU private sector activity index fell in June, dropping for the second month in a row. Both manufacturing and services components weakened although each continued to show expansion in its respective sector. Germany's [...]

The Chicago Federal Reserve reported that its National Activity Index (CFNAI) for May gained to 0.21 and recovered the April decline to -0.15, revised from -0.32. The reading indicates that overall U.S. economic activity is on a [...]

Industrial commodity prices recently have retraced gains logged since early-February. The industrial commodity price index, from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER), averaged 165.09 this week, down [...]

The EMU current account surplus widened month-to-month and is higher year-over-year. The balance of trade in goods is in surplus and it widened month-to-month as well as year-over-year. The services balance is also in surplus and is [...]

The Index of Leading Economic Indicators, from the Conference Board, improved 0.5% during May (5.9% y/y), the fourth straight month of firm increase. The rise roughly matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey for a [...]

Initial jobless insurance claims declined to 312,000 during the week ended June 14 from 318,000 during the prior week, revised from 317,000. A 314,000 level of claims was expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Claims [...]