Economy in Brief: November 2016

Led by a 12.0% m/m jump in orders for transportation equipment, U.S. durable goods orders surged a much larger-than-expected 4.8% m/m (2.1% y/y) in October. The Action Economics Forecast Survey had looked for a 1.0% m/m increase. And [...]

Sales of existing homes increased 2.0% (5.9% y/y) during October to 5.600 million (AR) after a 3.6% increase to 5.490 million in September, revised up from 5.470 million. The latest level was the highest since February 2007. [...]

Energy product prices were mixed last week. Regular gasoline prices edged down 3 cents per gallon to $2.155 (+2.9% y/y), their lowest level since mid-August. Prices remained down versus a 2014 high of $3.71 per gallon. Haver Analytics [...]

Despite the ongoing weakness in the British pound sterling, U.K. industrial orders are 'losing ground.' However, at -3 the net balance for November is much better than last month's -17 and better than the series 12-month average of [...]

The CFNAI Diffusion Index weakened in October, declining to -0.35 from September's -0.16, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. The components of the index all show weakness relative to trend except for the employment [...]

Japan's surplus is back in business and has given 12 positive readings in the last 12 months, making the return to surplus look like a lasting event. Japan's surplus position continues to make steadily higher despite the closure of [...]

The trends still largely tell the story as the EMU trade and current account deficits relative to GDP are massive and still trending higher. In September, the current account deficit for the EMU-19 fell to 25.3 billion euros from 29.1 [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City reported that its index of regional manufacturing sector business activity declined to 1 during November from an unrevised 6 during each of the prior two months. That still represented [...]