Economy in Brief: 2011

The German GfK Consumer Climate Study for July, 2011 revealed substantial declines in both income and economic expectations. The balance of opinion regarding income expectations declined 10 percentage points to 34.6% in July from [...]

Total new home sales during June fell 1.0% m/m to 312,000 (AR) a downwardly revised 315,000 in May. Since last year's government program to boost purchases, sales have moved roughly sideways. The latest figure fell short of [...]

The Conference Board reported that its July Index of Consumer Confidence rose 3.3% to 59.5. The gain recovered roughly half of the June decline which was deeper than reported initially. The latest figure beat Consensus expectations [...]

The pump price for regular gasoline rose two cents last week to $3.70 per gallon, its highest in a month. Nevertheless, prices remained down twenty six cents since the May peak. Pump prices usually rise this time of year with [...]

The seasonally adjusted Case-Shiller 20-City Home Price Index held roughly constant during May after an upwardly revised 0.4% April gain. Nevertheless, during the last twelve months prices have fallen 4.5% after rising modestly y/y [...]

For Italian consumers the thrill is gone. That is if there ever was a thrill. Confidence did rise as the recession wound down, but then its rebound deflated very quickly as expected recovery proved to be somewhere between elusive and [...]

The Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, (CPB) complies the most up to date data on world trade. The latest data, in the form of indexes with a base year of 2000 are for May and were published today. The volume of world [...]

This year's second quarter was a tough one regarding economic momentum. The Chicago Fed reported that its National Activity Index (CFNAI) was again negative during June at -0.46 following a revised -0.55 in May, initially reported as [...]