Economy in Brief: 2012

Bona fide job market improvement was more in evidence last week. Initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped back to 353,000 during the week ended July 21st from 388,000 during the prior week, revised from 386,000. The decline [...]

The chart depicts the IFO standard indices while in the table we show the history of sectors using the IFO diffusion gauges. Both approaches show a sliding German economy. Retailing and construction have become the relative strongest [...]

The chart depicts the IFO standard indices while in the table we show the history of sectors using the IFO diffusion gauges. Both approaches show a sliding German economy. Retailing and construction have become the relative strongest [...]

Lower interest rates continue to generate business for mortgage lenders. The Mortgage Bankers Association index of total mortgage applications rose 0.9% last week (78.7% y/y) on top of the prior week's 16.9% jump. The figures are [...]

New home sales fell 8.4% last month to 350,000 from 382,000 in May, earlier reported as 350,000. June sales fell short of consensus expectations for 369,000. A two-thirds plunge in sales in the Northeast left them unchanged y/y. Sales [...]

The purchasing managers in the Euro Area surveyed by Markit Economics continue to be cautious in their appraisal of the economy. The July flash estimate for the Composite diffusion index is 46.3819, above the June flash estimate of [...]

The U.S. House Price Index from the Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA) rose 0.8% during May following a 0.7% April increase. It was the fourth consecutive monthly gain and lifted the y/y increase to 3.7%. That gain followed [...]

Consumers' inclination to spend remained in place last week. Chain store sales rose 1.0% w/w (3.3% y/y) and are 3.6% higher than in June. During the last ten years there has been a 72% correlation between the y/y change in chain store [...]