Economy in Brief: 2012

Last week's indication of labor market improvement was a false reading.Initial claims for unemployment insurance jumped to 386,000 during the week ended July 14th from a much-lower 352,000 during the prior week, revised from 350,000. [...]

As Italy’s export and import trends wither on a yr/yr basis. But domestic demand is sinking faster than foreign demand therefore imports are falling faster than exports and that is pushing the current account into surplus. That, in [...]

Lower interest rates can still stimulate activity in the mortgage market. The Mortgage Bankers Association index of total mortgage applications jumped 16.9% (68.2% y/y) last week, nearly reaching this cycle's high. Applications to [...]

The housing market continues to respond to low interest rates, however slowly. June housing starts rose 6.9% to 760,000 (23.6% y/y) from 711,000 in May, revised from 708,000. The latest level was the highest of the economic recovery, [...]

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo reported that its Composite Housing Market Index jumped this month to 35 from an unrevised 29 in June. The latest figure was the highest since March 2007. More individuals are out [...]

This month's Zew survey continues a trend that has been in play for several months. Sentiment remains quite low and this month it is moving lower. The current situation has slipped for the second month in a row. And in those two [...]

Industrial output gained 0.4% during June following a revised 0.2% May decline, last month reported as -0.1%. A 0.3% increase had been expected. A rebound in factory output led last month's improvement with a 0.7% rise which reversed [...]

Drivers are dealing with something normal for this time of year - higher fuel costs.The pump price of regular gasoline rose another two cents last week to $3.43 per gallon. Nevertheless, the price is barely higher than the recent low [...]