Economy in Brief: November 2017

Sales of new single-family homes increased 6.2% to 685,000 (SAAR) during October following a 14.2% gain to 645,000 in September, revised from 667,000. Sales were at the highest level since October 2007. Expectations in the Action [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Volume Index rose 0.1% last week, down 12.6% y/y. Moving in the opposite direction, however, were purchase applications, which jumped 5.3% (2.7% y/y) [...]

The German trade surplus in September continued to push to a higher level. The 21.83 billion euros surplus rose from 21.32 billion euros in August. It is the highest surplus since April 2016. Since January 1999, the surplus ranks as [...]

The labor market remains on a firm footing. Initial unemployment insurance applications fell to 239,000 (-4.7% y/y) during the week ended November 18, and reversed the prior week's increase. Expectations had been for 240,000 claims in [...]

Activity in the factory sector weakened last month. New orders for durable goods declined 1.2% during October (+1.0% y/y) following an unrevised 2.2% September increase. A 0.5% increase in orders had been expected in the Action [...]

Retail gasoline prices rose eased slightly last week to $2.57 per gallon (+19.2% y/y) following an increase to $2.59. It remained near the highest level since early-October. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the [...]

Retail gasoline prices eased last week to $2.57 per gallon (+19.2% y/y) following an increase to $2.59. It remained near the highest level since early-October. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in [...]

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes increased 2.0% (-0.9% y/y) during October to 5.480 million units (SAAR) after a little-revised 0.4% slip to 5.370 million in September. It was the highest [...]