Economy in Brief: 2012

The Mortgage Bankers Association index of total mortgage applications rose 0.2% last week (67.3% y/y). The figures are close to the high in this cycle. Applications to refinance have led the gain. Last week, they rose 0.8% w/w and [...]

The value of construction put-in-place rose an expected 0.4% during June following a 1.6% May increase, initially reported as 0.9%. Private sector spending gained 0.7% (13.1% y/y) after a 2.1% May rise. Residential building continued [...]

Activity in the industrial sector continues to struggle. The July ISM Composite Index of industrial sector activity ticked up to 49.8 versus an unrevised 49.7 in June. The figure compared to Consensus expectations for 50.0 and remains [...]

Employment continues to grow. Private sector payrolls rose 163,000 in July as reported by the payroll processor Automatic Data Processing (ADP) and economic consultants Macroeconomic Advisers. A 120,000 gain had been expected. The [...]

The Euro Crisis is beginning to affect the German economy which heretofore has seemed immune. Unemployment in Germany has stated to inch up since March of this year. At that time registered unemployment was 2,856 thousand and the [...]

The Conference Board's Index of Consumer Confidence Index for July rose 5.1% m/m to 65.9 from 62.7 in June, initially reported as 62.0. Expectations were for a July reading of 62.0. The latest figure was the highest since April. [...]

The employment cost index for private industry workers rose 0.5% in Q2'12 versus an unrevised 0.4% Q1 rise. The latest increase in total compensation matched expectations as compiled by Bloomberg. The four-quarter gain of 1.8% was [...]

Improvement in housing activity is helping pricing power. The seasonally adjusted Case-Shiller 20-City Home Price Index rose another 0.9% (-0.7% y/y) during May. That added to its little-revised 0.7% April rise. The narrower 10 City [...]