Economy in Brief

• Import costs are unexpectedly strong. • Export price gain picks up. Import prices increased 1.2% (6.9% y/y) during March following a 1.3% February rise. A 0.9% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]

• Purchase and refinancing applications fall. • Mortgage interest rates ease. The Mortgage Bankers Association Mortgage Loan Applications Index fell 3.7% (-13.4% y/y) in the week ended April 9, the sixth consecutive weekly decline. [...]

Italian Production Italian industrial output in manufacturing rose for the third month in a row. The three-month annualized gain at 4.8% is just about the mirror image of the six-month decline at 5.4%. Over 12 months, Italian IP is [...]

• Higher energy prices lead last month's gain. • Services price inflation continues to accelerate. • Core goods prices pick up. Price inflation at the retail level is accelerating as demand firms. The Consumer Price Index rose 0.6% [...]

• The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose 2.4 points in March to 98.2. • The March reading returns to the historic average since last November. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) reported that its Small [...]

• Gasoline prices reverse earlier increase. • Crude oil prices slip. • Natural gas prices continue to decline. The price of regular gasoline eased to $2.85 per gallon (+53.8% y/y) in the week ended April 12 after edging higher to [...]

The U.S. Treasury Department reported a federal budget deficit of $659.6 billion during March compared to a deficit of $119.0 billion one year earlier. For the first six months of this fiscal year the deficit rose to $1.706 trillion. [...]

The U.S. Treasury Department reported a federal budget deficit of $659.6 billion during March compared to a deficit of $119.0 billion one year earlier. For the first six months of this fiscal year the deficit rose to $1.706 trillion. [...]