Economy in Brief: January 2017

The concept of Net Domestic Product used in the following report can be extrapolated from the GDP accounts by taking into consideration the loss of value of assets (depreciation) due to aging and normal use. Over the last 50 years, [...]

As the ECB met this past week, policy was kept on an even keel despite pressures from rising oil prices. ECB President Mario Draghi has said that he is unconvinced that there is an underlying trend to inflation. Draghi sees energy, a [...]

The euro area has set a new record high current account surplus at 36.1 billion euros in November. And while the ECB has just met and decided to kick the can down the road for a bit longer, international policy is showing itself to be [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index rose to 23.6 during January from December's 19.7. It was the highest level since November 2014. The latest monthly reading compared to [...]

Initial unemployment insurance filings declined to 234,000 during the week ended January 14 from 249,000 in the prior week, revised from 247,000. Expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey called for 252,000 claims. The [...]

The housing market exhibited firm growth in 2016. Overall housing starts increased to 1.168 million, the highest level since 2007. The gain was paced by a rise in single-family starts to 783,000. Multi-family starts rose to 385,000. [...]

Energy prices notched lower last week. Regular gasoline prices slipped to $2.36 per gallon (+23.2% y/y) from $2.39 per gallon in the prior week. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in these pump [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index improved 0.8% last week (-12.0% y/y) following a 5.8% jump during the week prior. Purchase applications declined 5.2% (+0.9% y/y) while refinancing [...]